The Stronghold Roasting Championship is a roasting competition run on Stronghold Technology’s own equipment, with qualifying events held in multiple countries feeding into an annual Global Stronghold Roasting Championship. The 2026 US qualifier, hosted by RoasTronix, was held October 1 in Missouri City, Texas, with 15 competitors; the winner advances to the global final in South Korea.
Stronghold Technology is also the official equipment sponsor of the SCA’s World Coffee Roasting Championship, but the Stronghold Roasting Championship is a separate competition it runs independently, distinct from the SCA-run U.S. Coffee Roasting Championship EspressoDrop already covers. EspressoDrop covers both.
How the Competition Works
Stronghold’s championships typically run competitors through several judged rounds on the same equipment: grading and classifying a green coffee sample, developing and executing a roast profile suited to it, and a blind cupping of the finished coffee, with the combined score across rounds deciding the winner. Exact format details for the US qualifier haven’t been independently confirmed.