It’s Not a Toaster. It’s a Steam Oven. And It Makes Everything Delicious.

The best breakfast sandwich you’ve ever had starts here

July 7, 2016 9:00 am

Breakfast, we’re told, is the most important meal of the day.

By that logic, the tools behind said meal should also be matters of great import.

Realizing this, a Japanese company has created a high-tech toaster that uses steam and calibrated heat cycles to make the bread on even the finest Eastman sandwich in all the land that much better.

While cooking on a grill, company founder Gen Terao and his designers realized the key to making store-bought bread taste fresh-baked was steam — and that’s how the Balmuda Toaster was born.

During its toasting process, the Balmuda warms bread at low heat and traps steam inside before blasting the heat at the end to produce a crunchy finish. “The best results are with croissants,”  Balmuda owner Mark Oda told Bloomberg. “I can never go back to 5,000-yen toasters.”

Given that Balmuda is currently shipping more than 10,000 of the 24,000-yen toasters per month, he likely won’t have to.

You aren’t stuck with yours either, provided you’re willing to pony up $450 for a Balmuda from Amazon (the company has no plans to market the toaster in the U.S. or Europe).

At least there’s free shipping.

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