KALDI Coffee Lab Inc.
Tabletop and countertop machines, Seoul (Geumcheon-gu, Gasan-dong), South Korea.
History
KALDI Coffee Lab was registered in Seoul on June 24, 2013, under business number 138-81-84982. The company itself writes that its first roaster appeared that year. It occupies unit 415 of the Daesung D-Polis activity center, in Gasan-dong, in southern Seoul. An activity center of this type is a building of small workshops rented by the unit. That is what puts an industrial premises within reach of a tiny firm, and the register counts only two employees here. Two executives represent it, Hong Hyunpyo and Lee Kyunghee. The same register gives SEINN Technology Inc as the company's English name. That is the name that appears as manufacturer on the product sheets, and on the shop's bank account. The starting position comes down to an absence. On the small models, the burner is not supplied. The buyer sets the drum on the gas stove they already own. The company therefore sells only a drum, a frame and a motor. That is what explains why its four smallest machines cost from 220 to 690 dollars, and why a team of two is enough to produce them. The Mini, at 220 dollars, is even turned by hand. The range then climbed up to the Fortis of 600 g with front discharge, that is, whose coffee falls through a hatch at the front. Then it forked with the electric AIRTRON, which abandons the drum and puts in the same catalog two opposite heating principles. The same company also runs homecaffe.net, its Korean shop, where it resells imported Italian espresso machines. The roasters, for their part, come out of its own premises: the register classes it under manufacturing.
What it makes
The company makes two opposite things. On one side, gas drums without a burner, set on an external flame. The same frame accepts either of two drums, and that is the whole point. Perforated, it lets the flame reach the bean through the holes: the manufacturer calls this direct flame type. Solid, the metal acts as a screen and transmits only its own heat, which it calls semi-convective type. Perforating or closing the drum shifts the balance between conduction, radiation and convection, and therefore changes the roast curve. On the other side, the AIRTRON series is electric and works as a fluid bed. The bean floats in a stream of hot air there, touches no wall, and receives all its heat by convection. The presentation page, moreover, sorts the catalog into three heating families: direct, semi-convective, electric.
The models
The gas range goes from 0.2 to 0.6 kg per batch, burner not supplied unless stated. Prices noted on the site in September 2026. Mini, 220 dollars, hand-cranked, motorized or both, as chosen, capacity not published. Motor driver, 390 dollars, 200 g, perforated drum, motor-driven. Wide and Wide POP, 300 g, 590 and 690 dollars, with a mesh plate that stops the flame. The POP also receives the hopper and the sampler, that hollow rod that pulls out a few beans during the roast. Wide400, 1,100 dollars, 400 g, solid drum and analog thermometer. Fortis, 1,620 dollars, up to 600 g, front discharge, perforated or solid drum as chosen. Its Center301 dual thermometer is standard, and the Center306 recorder costs 80 dollars more. Fortis Plus, 2,850 dollars, 600 g, all-in-one on 24 V direct current, with separate cooler and adjustable cyclone. The cyclone is the component that separates the chaff from the airflow by centrifugation. Fortis Grande and Fortis Pro, 3,500 and 4,500 dollars, delivered with gas burner and regulators, capacities not published. Finally comes the electric fluid bed AIRTRON series. The base model holds 350 g for 2 kW and 3,500 dollars. The SMART250 goes down to 250 g for 3,800 dollars, the SMART500 goes up to 450 g and 2.5 kW for 4,850 dollars.
What you gain
The batch weighs 200 to 600 g. Thermal inertia is therefore low, and a change of flame shows on the curve within seconds. The burner is set by hand: nothing electronic comes between the valve and the bean. The perforated drum lets radiation reach the bean, which very quickly recovers a drop in temperature. The solid drum, sold for the same frame, dampens on the contrary. The two principles can therefore be compared on the same coffee and the same machine. The Fortis discharges at the front: the roast stops where you decided. The starting setting, for its part, requires no instrument. The manufacturer gives it thus: preheat to 200 °C at three fifths of power, load 500 g, aim for first crack at eight minutes. One minute too early, lower the flame; one minute too late, raise it. The method calibrates on the result, so it holds whatever the buyer's burner.
What you lose
The perforated drum over a naked flame scorches the face of the bean if the load is too small or the rise too brisk: nothing filters the radiation. Above all, the burner is not supplied below the Grande and the Pro. The heating power is that of the buyer's stove, unknown to the manufacturer. A buyer of a Fortis 600 g had to ask whether his 7,500 BTU per hour, about 2.2 kW, was enough. A profile therefore does not carry over from one kitchen to another, and only the result counts. Air cannot be adjusted on the bare machine either. The chaff collector and cooler, 450 dollars, must be added to go from natural draft to forced draft. Without it, convection and conduction cannot be separated. Temperature is read on a dial, unless you pay for the optional recorder. And the AIRTRON, all convection, prepares no drum profile.