roaster

A roaster is a device or person that performs roasting. In kitchen contexts, it refers to appliances and cookware designed to roast meats and poultry, vegetables, and nuts. In the coffee industry, a roaster is a machine that heats and agitates green coffee beans to develop flavor through controlled browning. The term also appears in social contexts as a person who delivers humorous insults at a comedy roast.

Green coffee beans are heated in a roaster, typically in a drum or hot-air system. Roasting drives moisture off, causes chemical reactions (Maillard reaction), and develops aromas. Roasts are categorized by level: light, medium, medium-dark, dark. Roasted beans are then cooled and aged.

Household roasters, such as roasting ovens or countertop coffee roasters, use electric heating and mechanical agitation or hot air. For meat, roasters include roaster ovens with a rack and lid, used to roast poultry and other meats; some have self-basting features. Industrial roasters for coffee include gas-fired drums or fluid-bed roasters with precise temperature control.

The word roaster can also refer to a person who performs a roast; in entertainment roasters deliver jokes directed at a guest of honor.