Coffee roaster (household utensil)

A household coffee roaster heats raw coffee beans before grinding and brewing. It therefore belongs to a different stage of preparation from the coffee grinder or coffee pot. Buying green beans and roasting them at home was common during the nineteenth century.

A type used at an open hearth has an enclosed container on a long handle. Shaking the utensil over the heat kept the beans moving. Stove roasters can resemble a lidded pot with a crank operating an internal stirring device. Historisches Museum Bielefeld explains how such containers could be fitted into an opening in the stove.

Look for a lid, filling opening and any internal stirrer before describing an object as an ordinary pot or grinder. Record missing components, rust and repairs, but do not assume that a working crank makes the utensil suitable for food use. Soot or old iron alone cannot establish age, Norwegian manufacture or attribution to a particular smith.

Sources: Audun Dybdahl, NTNU: kaffebrenner i Store norske leksikon; Historisches Museum Bielefeld: Objektgeschichte Kaffebrenner.