The Mano3 Pro-H2 automatic pourover brewer by Mano at the 2024 SCA Expo in Chicago. Daily Coffee News photo by Howard Bryman.
Hailing from Korea, an automated pourover coffee system called Mano recently launched in the United States, pairing a novel robotic spectacle with precision single-cup brewing.
Mano was one of several new brands to debut automatic pourover machines at last month’s SCA Expo in Chicago. (See DCN’s complete 2024 SCA Expo coverage here.)
Targeting cafes and other out-of-home settings, the 2-group Mano machine is launching in the U.S. with a $15,000 price tag.
Daily Coffee News photo by Howard Bryman.
Jun Yang, CEO of the California-based coffee roasting, importing and equipment distributing company Lovetta Specialty Coffee, is the CEO of Mano’s U.S. business. Yang is also the owner of The Mugs roastery and cafe in Fullerton, California.
“If you think about it like a well-trained barista working with you, it’s like two people doing pourover all day long for you — exactly the same profile that you want it to,” Yang told Daily Coffee News. “So maybe in two or three months’ worth of salary, the Mano will pay for itself.”
Operators of the 2-group machine, called the Mano3 Pro-H2, can independently program the lateral movement of each pourover water spout, the rotation speed of the receptacle and the vertical positioning of the rotary platform. The latter adjustment is offered to accommodate different designs and sizes of drippers.
Daily Coffee News photo by Howard Bryman.
The distance from the spout to the coffee can also provide some intentional agitation to the coffee bed, while the horizontal movements of the spout above the brewer can be set to spiraling, circular or straight patterns.
Each spout connects to its own under-counter boiler, allowing for different temps to be programmed on each side. Users can program up to seven water pours per brew recipe.
Said Yang, “You can control every single thing that you can have in mind — the flow, the blooming time, start with one temperature and end with a different temperature — everything.”
Daily Coffee News photo by Howard Bryman.
The Mano includes an automatic alignment feature that locates the center of the brewer, and a bypass water outlet for hot water.
The Mano app provides software updates wirelessly, while brewing can be executed through a Bluetooth connection between the machine and a touchscreen tablet that’s included with the purchase.
A Bluetooth-connecting tablet is included with the Mano machine. Daily Coffee News photo by Howard Bryman.
The Mano machine is now in its third generation, following machines initially launched in Korea in 2020. Led by inventor and founder Yeon-Soo Kim, Mano expanded sales to Singapore last year and Dubai earlier this year. A single-group Mano machine is available in markets outside the U.S.
Said Yang, “We are going to offer the two-groups in the U.S. and then… if we see that the market is there for the one group, then we’ll probably bring the one group.”
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Howard Bryman
Howard Bryman is the associate editor of Daily Coffee News by Roast Magazine. He is based in Portland, Oregon.
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