WherePost Falls, Idaho, United States (Spokane, Washington metropolitan area)
Since2012
FamilyProduction drums
History
Coffee Crafters was born of a lack. Ken Lathrop was then living in Thailand and could not find freshly roasted coffee there. He looked for an affordable machine able to roast five pounds in under ten minutes, did not find one, and built it. The company was set up in 2012 in the Spokane area, where it first shared a factory and a warehouse. The first roaster, the Artisan V, has been on sale since August 2013. The selling point lies in the installation: the machine is plugged in like a household clothes dryer and one roasts half an hour later. In 2015, the firm opened a green coffee resale operation in bags of ten or twenty pounds. The reason is commercial: a customer buying a first machine does not yet know where to source. In 2021, it brought most of the manufacturing back into its Post Falls workshop, in Idaho. The gain can be measured. The Valenta 7 went from idea to first production unit in twenty weeks, against more than a year and a half under subcontracting. The Valenta range opened in 2023. The Artisans left the catalog in 2024, because their parts were still coming from outside suppliers. In December 2025, Jason Scott bought the firm. He had developed the Co-Pilot automation for it, and this collaboration explains the tie-up. Ken Lathrop retired, the only departure among the staff, and the brand became Hermetheus Coffee Crafters.
What it makes
Only fluid bed roasters, all electric. The fluid bed is a stream of hot air strong enough to lift the mass of beans and hold it in suspension throughout the roast. Air therefore does both jobs at once: it carries the bean and it heats it. Nearly all the heat passes by convection, that is, by the air itself, and not by contact with a wall as in a drum. Heating is resistive, with no gas or burner: 3,550 watts on the Duo, single-phase 240 volt supply. A suspension blower, which the firm calls the loft motor, sets the height of the bed. On the Valenta range, since the Valenta 7 of 2023, the chamber is rectangular and inclined. Ken Lathrop says it was designed to create a swirl that keeps the bean in the hot air before the air leaves. He judges this transfer more efficient than that of a conical hopper. The 2026 Duo nonetheless returns to a cylindrical chamber with a conical bottom, visible, closer to the Artisans. A separate exhaust blower and a chaff cyclone complete the set. All the machines in the catalog are UL and cUL certified for commercial use. Consumption announced by the manufacturer: 0.4 kWh per pound on the Valenta, or about 0.88 kWh per kilo. The Duo is given, for its part, at 0.3 to 0.6 kWh per pound. Manufacturing announced as entirely in the United States, in Post Falls.
The models
Five machines in the catalog in September 2026. The Duo, a countertop machine, roasts from 0.2 to 0.9 kg per batch and goes up to 4.5 kg per hour. It draws 3,550 W on a 240 V line of 20 amps and stands 1.47 m high, from 2,995 dollars. The Valenta 3, in base or deluxe version, roasts from 0.2 to 1.4 kg in six to ten minutes. It requires 240 V at 30 amps, from 4,800 dollars. The Valenta 8 roasts from 0.2 to 3.6 kg and announces 45 to 48 pounds per hour, or 20 to 22 kg. It weighs 159 kg and receives an exhaust blower of 650 CFM, from 8,800 dollars. The Valenta 12 roasts from 0.9 to 5.4 kg in eight to twelve minutes, 47 amps at most. Its blower gives 1,550 CFM, from 12,500 dollars. The Valenta 18 roasts from 0.9 to 8.2 kg in eight to twelve minutes. It requires 240 V at 100 amps single-phase, or 208 V three-phase at 70 amps, from 17,500 dollars. The Hermetheus Co-Pilot automation controls the temperature and connects to the Artisan software. It costs 999 dollars as an option on the Duo, the Valenta 3 and the Valenta 8, and comes standard on the Valenta 12 and 18. The Artisan range, discontinued in 2024, included at least the Artisan V of 2013, the electric Artisan 6M, the Artisan 3-e and the Artisan XL. Its parts are still sold. The Valenta 7 of 2023, at 3.2 kg, and the Valenta 15 of 2024, at 6.8 kg, are no longer in the catalog but keep their spare parts.
What you gain
No wall is heated for itself: all the heat arrives through the air. The bean therefore roasts against nothing, with no surface burn and no contact mark, even on a tiny charge. The air has almost no inertia: a change of setpoint shows on the curve within a few seconds. The chaff leaves with the flow instead of toasting inside the machine. The charge range is wide, 0.2 to 3.6 kg on the Valenta 8, a ratio of one to eighteen in the same chamber. Fully electric, the machine requires only a 240 V line, with no gas or burner to declare.
What you lose
Air does two jobs at once: it heats and it carries the bed. The blower therefore cannot be turned down to slow a rise, on pain of letting the bed fall back. The manufacturer redesigned its chamber in 2023 to hold suspension without touching the fan: this is the weak point of the principle. The low inertia forgives no delay, and the batch lasts only six to twelve minutes. The profile obtained does not transpose to a drum, which heats by conduction. The airflow requires a separate exhaust blower, on its own circuit, and a cyclone: the installation needs a duct, not just an outlet. Finally, the Valenta 18 requires 100 amps at 240 volts single-phase, which exceeds the panel of many premises.
Gray areaThe founding year is not settled. Two Daily Coffee News articles, in 2023 and in 2025, give 2012. The same paper nevertheless described in February 2015 a two-year-old company, which would bring it back to 2013. The manufacturer itself dates only the sale of the first Artisan V, in August 2013. The sheet retains 2012, the only year written in black and white. No Idaho or Washington State commercial register could be consulted to verify it. The place poses the same difficulty. In 2015, the firm is described in the Spokane area, in Washington State. In 2023, it is said to be founded in Post Falls, Idaho, about thirty kilometers away. Its telephone keeps the 509 area code, that of Spokane. Nothing says whether there was a move or when. The family was changed from “tabletop machines” to “production manufacturers.” Four models out of five exceed a kilo per batch, are UL certified for commercial use and go up to 22 kg per hour. Only the Duo is really a countertop machine. The exact capacities of the old Artisans are published nowhere. The numbers seem to follow the same convention as the Valentas, a figure for pounds per batch, but nothing confirms it. The fate of the Valenta 7 and the Valenta 15 is not explained. They were launched then withdrawn from the catalog, without announcement. No article, moreover, has presented the Valenta 8, 12 and 18: it is unknown whether they are new machines or the previous ones renumbered. The Valenta 25, announced in 2023 for the fall at about 25,000 dollars, never appeared. The weight of the Duo is not settled either. The press announces about 65 pounds, the product page 75 pounds for the roaster carton and 100 pounds with accessories. Its minimum charge also varies by source, 200 g in the press, half a pound on the product page. The dimensions published for the Valenta 8, 12 and 18 are those of the shipping pallet, not of the machine. The Valenta 12 and 18 are moreover given at the same weight of 465 pounds, which looks like a copy. What separates the Valenta 3 Base from the Valenta 3 Deluxe, sold for 1,100 dollars more, is explained on no page. The roasting time of the Duo and that of the Valenta 8 are not published. The figure of 0.4 kWh per pound comes from the manufacturer and was verified by no independent measurement found. No patent could be searched, the database consulted having refused access, and no temperature curve recorded by a third party was found. The change of brand remains partial in the field. In September 2026, the site still trades under the Coffee Crafters name alone, and Hermetheus appears there only in the name of the Co-Pilot. The About us page has not been updated: it still presents the Artisan XL as a current product and says nothing about the acquisition. Finally, green coffee sales still exist, at retail as in whole bags from regional warehouses, but it is unknown when this second channel was opened.
Manufacturer's website coffeecrafters.com, About us page, founder Ken Lathrop, idea born in Thailand for lack of fresh coffee, goal of a machine roasting five pounds in under ten minutes, Artisan V sold from August 2013, installation compared to that of a household clothes dryer, equipment designed and made in the United States, page still up to date on September 17, 2026 and presenting the Artisan XL as a current product; same site, Contact page, 708 S Clearwater Loop Suite 105, Post Falls, Idaho 83854, telephone +1 509 228 6916; same site, Coffee Roasters page listing in September 2026 the Duo, the Valenta 3 Base, the Valenta 3 Deluxe, the Valenta 8, the Valenta 12 and the Valenta 18, with their starting prices; same site, product pages Duo (0.5 to 2 pounds, 240 V 20 amps, 16 amps maximum draw, 0.3 to 0.6 kWh per pound, Co-Pilot Pro at 999 dollars optional, 2,995 dollars), Valenta 3 Base (200 g to 3 pounds, six to ten minutes, 240 V 30 amps, 24 amps maximum draw, 0.4 kWh per pound, 4,800 dollars, Deluxe at 5,900 dollars), Valenta 8 (200 g to 8 pounds, 45 to 48 pounds per hour, 240 V 50 amps, 350 pounds, 650 CFM blower, 8,800 dollars), Valenta 12 (2 to 12 pounds, eight to twelve minutes, 72 pounds per hour at most, 47 amps maximum draw, 1,550 CFM blower, 465 pounds, Co-Pilot standard, 12,500 dollars) and Valenta 18 (2 to 18 pounds, eight to twelve minutes, 240 V 100 amps or 208 V three-phase 70 amps, 1,550 CFM blower, 465 pounds, Co-Pilot Dual Control+ standard, 17,500 dollars), all UL and cUL certified for commercial use, all given at 0.4 kWh per pound except the Duo, dimensions published as shipping pallet measurements, pages accessed in September 2026; same site, product sitemap, spare parts naming the Artisan 2.5, 3, 3-e, 5, 5XL, 6, 6M, 6A, 6B, 6C, 9, XE and XL, and the chamber glasses common to the Valenta 7, 8, 12, 15 and 18; Daily Coffee News, February 11, 2015, “Coffee Crafters Launches Small-Quantity Green Coffee Resale Operation,” company then two years old, shared factory and warehouse in the Spokane area, bags of ten and twenty pounds, Artisan V presented at Coffee Fest 2013, electric Artisan 6M and variant for open air in the tropics; Daily Coffee News, May 24, 2023, “Coffee Crafters Kicks Off New Roaster Line with the Valenta-7,” founding in 2012, headquarters in Post Falls, manufacturing brought back in-house in 2021, inclined rectangular chamber, 200 g to 3.2 kg, from 8,200 dollars, sales opened in early April 2023, twenty weeks from concept to first unit against more than a year and a half under subcontracting, Valenta 15 and Valenta 25 announced, the latter at about 25,000 dollars for the fall; Daily Coffee News, March 28, 2024, “Coffee Crafters Launches the Valenta 15 Fluid-Bed Roaster,” 15 pounds, 17,500 dollars, reinforced insulation, air swirl described by Ken Lathrop as a more efficient transfer than a conical hopper, Bryce Bull vice president, Chris Hammock engineer; Daily Coffee News, September 16, 2024, “Coffee Crafters Launches the Valenta 3 Electric Roaster,” withdrawal of the Artisan 3-e because some Artisan parts still came from outside suppliers, Valenta parts made mostly at the Post Falls warehouse, remarks by Bryce Bull; Daily Coffee News, December 15, 2025, “Hermetheus Coffee Acquires Roaster Maker Coffee Crafters,” purchase by Jason Scott, founder of Hermetheus Coffee in Olathe, Kansas, trade name Hermetheus Coffee Crafters, relationship born from the development of the Co-Pilot for Coffee Crafters machines, retirement of Ken Lathrop the only employee leaving, Chris Hammock promoted to partner and vice president of engineering, Bryce Bull kept in contact with customers, amount undisclosed; Daily Coffee News, June 30, 2026, “Coffee Crafters Returns to its Roots with New 2-Pound Roaster, the Duo,” 200 g to 2 pounds, 10 pounds per hour, 3,550 W resistance, 240 V 20 amps, 58 inches high, about 65 pounds, 2,995 dollars, brushless loft motor rated for 5,000 hours, ten times that of the Artisan 3-e, live display of voltage, power and current, visible cylindrical chamber with conical bottom recalling the Artisans, Artisan production discontinued and product pages removed, parts and service maintained; site coffeecraftersgreen.com, green coffee sold at retail and in whole bags from regional warehouses, separate telephone line, accessed in September 2026; all pages accessed in September 2026