Rise of The Modern Roaster
By the 15th century, coffee roasting had become standard practice throughout the Ottoman Empire, with the 17th-century invention of the cylinder roaster in Cairo being the first-ever mechanical roasting method. Now fully industrialized, coffee roasting has become a more varied market with an increased demand for quality. Today, specialty baristas are viewed as coffee sommeliers who work with higher-quality roasts and, in some cases, roast coffee themselves, leading to the rise of micro-roasters who source, roast, and sell fresh coffee.