What (Exactly) is “Third Wave Coffee”?
You hear the term a lot. “Third Wave coffee”. What does it mean, and how can you tell if you are, in fact, drinking it?
Official definition: Third Wave coffee is a term coined by Trish Rothgeb in 2003. The idea is that each wave builds on and reacts to the last.
- First, we have the homey, low-quality, dark-roasted Folger’s and Maxwell House trend popping up in kitchens and diners across the nation.
- Second, Starbucks entered stage right with a new focus on origin and on espresso preparation.
- Third, we have modern coffee roasters (what you’ll see on Crema.co, with a few exceptions.)
Each “wave” answers the former — a sort of generational middle finger to the last that results in the spread of innovation that benefits everybody. You’ll often notice a fair amount of pride and emotion when this term is used, and you’ll bump into coffee folks who refuse to use it. Still, the hallmarks of the Third Wave movement are clear, if you know what to look for.
These core values are expressed in countless ways but generally fall into three categories: artisanship, aesthetic, and traceability.
Artisanship
Believe you me, this is not a generation of coffee people content to “turn and burn” the beans and to sell sugary drinks or very dark roasts without origin attribution. Modern coffee professionals are giving coffee the focus that wine has had for years: agronomy practices are increasing rapidly along with genetic study and diversification; tasting and valuing coffee is slowly catching up with the fields of wine, cheese, and chocolate; and through social media and many innovative platforms, storytelling is exploding in coffee.
The result is unquestionably great: coffee is tasting better. When you pay attention to every single variable in a coffee brew, you produce a better cup.
Aesthetics
White subway tile floors. Clean, expansive design with an optional Norwegian influence. Succulents in planters. Visit enough Third Wave coffeehouses and you will notice visual trends. Some embrace these trends to the point of self-mockery, while others merely pick out favorite motifs to employ while building out the coffee company of their dreams. The result is hard to miss.
This new emphasis on visual aesthetic ties into the push for excellence we are seeing in every aspect of the industry, and reflects studies that have shown that design matters in experience, down to the shape of our coffee mugs. Ultimately, coffee businesses that choose their decor and architecture intentionally stand out from the crowd, which is fitting since “intentionality” is the over-arching theme in the Third Wave community.
Traceability
Hand in hand with the other values, but maybe the most prominent for those of us lucky enough to work in coffee, is the Third Wave focus on the entire value chain of coffee. Social responsibility is a strong aspect of modern coffee, as current generations of coffee professionals begin to take responsibility for being the end mover in a hugely-traded industry (some sources say second in the world after oil) in which human dignity often takes a solid hit and many farmers are toiling at barely-subsistence wages.
You see this focus with the farmer stories and the elaborate graphs detailing where every cent of your coffee cup goes, and you see it in the names of the coffees (no longer simply “Nicaragua”, we have “Nicaragua San Jose de las Nubes”).
Ultimately, Third Wave coffee is about love, and the passion for excellence. Any way we can leave the world a better place and enjoy ourselves while we are at it is a worthwhile endeavor.
By purchasing, brewing, and enjoying coffees from roasters with these core values, you get the chance to push the coffee world in the right direction. And that’s (exactly) what the Third Wave movement is about.
Looking for more info on coffee? Check out these articles in The Coffee Magazine:
