A Stronghold S2 roaster on the RoasTronix sales space in San Diego. Day by day Espresso Information picture by Howard Bryman.

South Korean roaster maker Stronghold has launched international gross sales of its new and smallest roaster, the S2, designed for countertop pattern roasting, house roasting and micro-batch manufacturing in cafes.

Standing about 2 ft tall and weighing roughly 60 kilos, the 300-gram-capacity S2 roaster applies the identical mixture of warmth and agitation as Stronghold’s bigger machines, together with convection from sizzling air, radiant warmth from halogen parts and conduction from contact with agitator blades that stir the beans inside a vertical drum.

Day by day Espresso Information picture by Howard Bryman.

“The roaster has a very good quantity of energy, so you are able to do a reasonably quick roast, just like a pattern roaster,” Stronghold international ambassador and champion barista Ben Put informed Day by day Espresso Information on the World of Espresso San Diego commerce present. “But it surely additionally works rather well for small-batch, filter stuff.” 

(Learn all of DCN’s WOC San Diego protection.)

New to the S2, and shortly to be included in the remainder of Stronghold’s lineup, is a finer decision of management. Whereas the warmth and air techniques in present Stronghold roasters have supplied a 20-step adjustment vary in increments of 0.5, the S2 introduces 0.1 increments, dividing its vary into 100 steps.

Put mentioned the finer tuning might enable for higher replica from roast to roast, whereas the machine itself is appropriate for environments requiring a variety of roast samples, corresponding to busy cupping labs, or at farms or mills as a result of machine’s bodily robustness. 

“We’ve additionally seen increasingly cafes notice that, to be extra worthwhile, they should roast in-house,” Put mentioned. “For those who’re a really small cafe, this is able to be a fantastic roaster to roast in-house.”

Day by day Espresso Information picture by Howard Bryman.

Customers can management the entire S2’s variables in actual time, or they’ll obtain, design and execute full profiles by way of a built-in web-connected touchscreen console or a wi-fi-linked exterior gadget.

A conventional guide trier protrudes from one facet of the unit, and a small glass window gives a view into the roast chamber. Smoke-mitigation techniques can connect with the S2 on the exhaust port on its again, and the machine cools beans in its discharge tray.

Stronghold supplied an early sneak peek on the S2 at its sales space on the SCA Expo in Houston final 12 months earlier than launching gross sales of the machine in Asian markets. The official international gross sales launch coincided with World of Espresso San Diego. 

Inside Stronghold’s personal portfolio, the S2 serves because the smallest and most accessible entry level in a lineup that at the moment consists of the S7Pro, S7X, S8X and S9X, which vary from capacities of 850 grams within the S7 platform as much as 8 kilograms within the S9 platform. 

Day by day Espresso Information picture by Howard Bryman.

Inside the broader roasting gear panorama, the S2 provides to a rising class of compact, feature-rich electrical machines that blur the road between pattern roasting, house use and nano-scale business manufacturing. Current examples embody: the portability-focused Nucleus Hyperlink; Aillio Bullet machines; the brand new Ikawa Pro50X, Go and 100X machines; and the next-generation 200-gram Roest machine, amongst others. 

Accessible in black, inexperienced, white and ivory, the Stronghold S2 is promoting in the USA for about US$9,000. Houston-based RoasTronix is the unique distributor of Stronghold machines within the U.S., whereas Calgary-based Eight Ounce Espresso not too long ago turned the unique Canadian distributor.

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