The Three Waves of Coffee
The way people consume coffee has drastically changed over the decades. From treating coffee as a prized possession to including it as a part of our day to day lifestyle, we have surely come a long way. These differences in the way people produce and consume coffee can be segregated by the three waves of coffee.
1st Wave of Coffee
The first wave of coffee began in the mid-19th century around the industrial revolution. In fact, coffee could be one of the few commodities behind the industrial revolution. And what is now the New York Stock Exchange actually began at a coffee house where brokers would trade over a cup of coffee. Coffee was mass produced during this phase which led to the birth of now famous coffee brands like Nescafe. The biggest trade-off was made in the terms of quality of beans as well as the final brew. Since diner culture was prominent around this time, people were merely focused on getting their caffeine fix rather than getting a better cup. Due to the mass production of beans to make instant coffee, the output was a really weak and bland tasting cup of poor quality coffee. Due to the poor quality of coffee that was being produced, brands like Nescafe and Folgers had to face a lot of backlashes. But the ease that came with brewing instant coffee accompanied by marketing jargons such as ‘The best part of waking up’ by Folgers made it a common name across households. You may criticize these producers for sacrificing quality, but the methods they introduced to meet the exponential rise in demand for their coffee affected the coffee industry for years. To sum it up, the first wave of coffee was focused on meeting the heavy demands by producing poor quality coffee.
2nd Wave of Coffee
Although the second wave of coffee didn’t start before the 1960s, the most important event can be traced back to 1884 when the first espresso machine was made. Unlike the first wave, quality played an important role in shaping the way people consumed their beverage. People started to have a preference for fresher and better coffee which they didn’t get during the mid-19th century when industrialization was booming. Rather than being a place to get one’s caffeine fix, cafes were slowly becoming a place to sit down with peers and wind down. It was designed to be a place to give you the comfort of home with good coffee. A perfect example of the café culture developed around the second wave is the TV series ‘Friends’. It is the perfect portrayal of the way cafes were designed to be after the second wave of coffee. You get to see a group of friends having a cup of coffee while relaxing on a couch. It was the second wave which gave birth to major coffee chains such as Starbucks and Café Coffee Day.
3rd Wave of Coffee
The third wave of coffee is a recent change in coffee and its origins can be traced down to Australia. It’s still undergoing a lot of development, most of which is focused on giving preference to speciality coffee. The consumers are made aware of the different varieties of brews and the story behind a bean and its journey from farms to a cup. In terms of quality, it is the exact opposite of the first wave of coffee. The speciality preference given to coffee tends to hit the chains which boomed around the late 20th century. People are getting more and more aware of what they consume and want to know more about the process. A big downfall is that the speciality coffee comes with a price tag that not everyone can afford. There’s no drastic change in prices of second and third wave coffee, but still, it’s a bit costly for a lot of consumers. This factor becomes a top priority in a lot of regions like India where the developments in developed countries tend to reach a few years later. So even though there is no exponential rise in prices, some second wave cafes tend to get an edge over speciality cafes in developing regions. A more plausible explanation could be the fact that they have simply stayed in the market longer. Apart from a large number of coffee chain cafes in India, there are Some really amazing speciality coffee producers like Blue Tokai, Third Wave Coffee Roasters and Curious Life Coffee. These roasters believe in getting high-quality Indian origin coffee to consumers and make them aware of the plantations at the same time. To get a clearer picture, you can consider the third wave to be an advanced iteration of the second wave, with fresher and better coffee.
So, what is your preference? Do you prefer budget friendly second wave coffee or do you have a liking for premium things and prefer the better tasting third wave coffee. Let me know in the comment section below!
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