In Good Company: [Insert Name Here]
Things in my world tend to move quickly (or maybe I’m the one who speeds them up). Either way, when the chance came to book a last-minute flight to Texas for the Roastronix Stronghold X Roasting Certification Course starting the very next day, I jumped.
A couple of months ago, I purchased a Stronghold S9X, the machine behind our custom roasts at Little While. About 20 roasts in, I found myself on a call with Andrew from Roastronix, the U.S. distributor. As we were working through product registration, I casually asked about visiting their Houston headquarters. Just my luck: a certification was scheduled that week. Even better, a fully booked class of ten had just opened a single spot. The call was on Tuesday. By Wednesday night, I was on a plane.
I had hoped to bring Nayton, our general manager, but the class was capped. Gan handled things at home, and off I went. I’ll admit I was nervous: two full days, eight hours each, advancing my roasting skills through theory and practice, surrounded by roasters who had years of drum experience.
Thursday morning, I held onto routine. Smoothie King first, then a stop at BlendIn, a café and roastery near the training warehouse. They happened to roast on the same S9X, which felt grounding and inspiring at once. The space was beautiful, as you’d expect from competitors in Brewers Cup and other SCA events. My flat white with their “super milk” was spot-on.
Class began. I finally met Andrew in person, along with the Roastronix team and our instructor, Drew. The vibe was welcoming. One by one, students arrived with their own stories—most had spent years on drum machines and were now making the leap to Stronghold’s newer tech.
We were paired up, and I landed with Jason, founder of Dear Francis Coffee in San Francisco and Portland. His drum experience and my S9X background balanced each other well. We started with a Colombian, roasting it twice before building a production profile. It clicked.
Over two days we repeated the process with a Brazilian and then with the coffee for our practical exam, a washed Ethiopian. Before each roast we measured density and moisture content—804.1 g/L and 10.3% for the Ethiopian—numbers that shape how you approach heat and development. Denser coffees can take more heat early; delicate ones demand finesse.
For the exam, we roasted solo. The assignment: describe the coffee, state its intended use, set a flavor target, create a control plan for the S9X’s five independent variables (hot air, halogen, drum, agitation, blower), predict key roast data, and complete a cupping evaluation.
I chose to showcase the Ethiopian as a pour-over, highlighting florals, light sweetness, acidity, and a creamy mouthfeel with a clean finish. My starting settings: hot air 8, halogen 8.5, drum 2.5, agitation 7, blower 5.
Once the roast finished, grading began. My instructor brewed it as a pour-over and sat across from me, cups in hand. We compared notes: my plan against the result. He called the coffee pleasant, something he’d happily drink, and handed me a 96 on the practical and a 95 on the profile evaluation.
Success.
By 5 p.m. I was racing a rental car to the airport for an 8 p.m. flight home. The next morning, Little While had its pastry pop-up debut at Provecho Coffee. An incredible 72 hours.
What I carried back wasn’t just the certification or the score but the reminder that in roasting, the learning never ends. It is a craft and a romance, always refining, always curious, always chasing clarity in the cup.
