Solar Roast is a roasting company in Oregon that uses 100% organic and fair trade coffee and uses most "Earth Friendly" roasting methods. They can claim this because their roaster doesn’t use any fossil fuels: it uses the sun.

Roast Master Michael Hartkop wanted to create a truly organic roasting method and with the help of his brother David they built Helios.

Helios uses a 10 foot solar collector to focus the sun’s rays onto a drum roaster. This is enough to reach temperatures of 600 degrees Farenheit. The mirrors automatically track the sun, using solar power for the electronics, making roasting possible all day long. Of course, this only works on sunny days, so roasting during winter in the Pacific Northwest is a bit of a challenge.

They have a nice list of single origins and blends, but they seem to be out of stock right now. I’ll give them a try in a few months, when the sun comes out again.