What Are the Waves of Coffee? An In-Depth Guide

Hi! My name is Arne. Having spent years working as a barista I'm now on a mission to bring more good coffee to the people. To that end, my team and I provide you with a broad knowledge base on the subject of coffee.

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I’m sure you’ve seen this roaster bio more than once: "We are a third wave specialty coffee roaster." Waves of coffee? What could that possibly mean?

I’m sure you’ve seen this roaster bio more than once: “We are a third wave specialty coffee roaster.” Waves of coffee? What could that possibly mean?

Oh boy, do I wish this industry was as precise with our language as we are with our tasting notes! Really, it doesn’t have to be this confusing.

Rest assured, the next time someone talks to you about the waves of coffee you won’t just have to smile and nod. Read along to learn about the history of the coffee industry and what we mean when we talk about coffee waves.

Overview: What Is a Coffee Wave?

I should amend my previous statement; the waves of coffee don’t actually make up the history of the industry. Rather, coffee waves describe overarching trends or characteristics of the coffee industry in a given time or place.

You’re going to run into inconsistencies here. After all, this is a global industry we’re talking about. Needless to say, what was happening in the coffee culture in Australia in 1999 wasn’t necessarily what was happening in Seattle at the same time.

Sacks of Coffee

What’s more, over one hundred million people make their livelihoods from the coffee industry. Consequently, any attempts to name trends across the industry inevitably exclude countless experiences and coffee cultures.

With this context, many coffee pros are reasonably skeptical about giving the issue of coffee waves any weight. I mean, if coffee waves aren’t that specific or expansive in their descriptions, are they even useful?

That said, coffee waves can be good metrics for understanding where the industry has been and how it has evolved.

Often, descriptions of coffee waves focus on coffee consumption and business habits. Potential markers for a coffee wave include consumer preferences, cafe cultures, roasting philosophies, marketing practices and buying trends.

Like I said, we’re getting a pretty limited scope here. Talk about the waves of coffee often focuses on roasting and consumer trends in the United States and other parts of the “Western” world. In other words, there isn’t much representation of global trends.

Even worse, many descriptions of coffee waves tend to leave out any mention of coffee producers and how the industry has changed for them. This is especially true in the first and second waves, though the industry dynamic started to shift during the third coffee wave.

What Are the Waves of Coffee?

In short, there are three agreed-upon waves of coffee: the first, second and third waves. The existence of a fourth coffee wave is a bit controversial, with plenty of enthusiasts and skeptics. I’ll talk more about the controversy a bit later in my guide to the waves of coffee.

For even more controversy, some folks claim that there is already a fifth wave of coffee. Personally, I’m tempted to call baloney on that concept. But again, I’ll get into all that later. 

For now, I’ll give you a chronological introduction to the history of the modern coffee industry, starting with first wave coffee.

The First Wave of Coffee

First wave coffee began in the early to mid 1900s in an era of globalization and industrialization. It brought coffee into the home, transforming a luxury product into a mass-produced commodity accessible across social lines and income groups.

But let’s back up for a second. Prior to the first wave, coffee was typically enjoyed outside of the house or on special occasions. All this changed with the development of US-based coffee companies that imported, roasted and canned coffee on a wide scale.

Some of these brands are still around today; think Folgers, Chock Full o’Nuts, Maxwell House and other brands along those lines. Canned instant and pre-ground coffee started showing up on supermarket shelves, and this increased access changed consumer habits. 

Cup of Instant Coffee

All of a sudden it was cheap and convenient to brew coffee and drink it in your own home.

People largely drank instant coffee or pre-ground coffee, all of which was roasted very dark. What’s more, coffee was simply marketed as “coffee” or sometimes “100% Arabica coffee,” rather than retaining a tie to its country or region of origin. At this point the industry emphasis was on access and affordability, not quality or regional characteristics.

Consequently, first wave coffee was notoriously dark and smoky. But this wasn’t necessarily about roaster or consumer preferences. Rather, dark roasts had the dual effect of neutralizing the diverse tasting notes of blended coffee origins and increasing the perceived shelf stability of roasted beans.

Notice that I said “perceived” shelf stability, not actual shelf stability. In reality, coffee beans that are roasted darker aren’t more shelf stable than their light roast counterparts; it’s just harder to tell when they’re stale. Any flavors associated with staleness, like flat, papery or cardboard-esque notes, are masked by the intense smokiness of the roast.

The Second Wave of Coffee

Next up, second wave coffee started in the 1960s and 1970s with two primary drivers: coffee quality and cafe culture.

The big name here is Peets, based in Berkeley, California. Many folks would say that Peets started the second wave, along with other West Coast coffee companies. As it happens, the founders of Starbucks trained at Peets before moving to Seattle to start what would become one of the most popular coffee companies in the world. That’s right, even Starbucks was a small shrimp once upon a time!

Starbucks Drink in Hands

Oh, and those milky and sugary specialty beverages many of us love and adore? We can thank the second wave for them. The trend at this time was still to roast very dark, so companies like Starbucks found a way to make smoky and bitter espresso shots more palatable.

These specialty beverages represented a big draw for consumers to get out of their homes and drink java in coffee shops. The characterization of baristas and roasters as artisans began to grow at this time, with roastmasters crafting intentional house blends and honing in on roasting practices.

At the same time, coffee’s presence in grocery stores continued to increase. Marketing language became more specific, with emphasis on 100% Arabica coffee and coffee origins.

During the second wave, coffee was a bit more traceable than the homogenous “Premium Coffee” of the first wave. Second wave coffee beans were more often grouped under origins like “Central American blend,” “Brazil” or “Colombia.”

Fortunately, third wave coffee took traceability a step further with single origin coffee that highlighted specific farms and microregions. While the first and second waves focused on U.S. roasters, the third wave began to uplift coffee producers for their expertise and artisanship. What’s more, the concept of terroir took center stage.

The Third Wave of Coffee

Second wave coffee evolved quite naturally into third wave coffee.

Big names in the early third wave included Stumptown, Intelligentsia and Blue Bottle. Fast forward to today and these companies are big chains, available in supermarket aisles and even on Amazon.

For all of these companies, their widespread popularity is a far cry from their humble beginnings as coffee carts or small specialty coffee shops in the early third wave. So let’s back up for a minute.

Originally, localized coffee communities – primarily on the West Coast – grew tired of the uber dark blends of the first and second waves. So, small roasting companies started to emerge with an emphasis on fine-tuned roasting practices, lighter roast profiles and traceable coffee origins.

Roasting Fresh Coffee Beans By Hand

Meanwhile, the Specialty Coffee Association of America was established in 1982 to create community and establish collective quality standards.

The term “third wave coffee” was coined in 1999 by coffee professional Trish Rothgeb, and by the time the early aughts rolled around, the third wave specialty coffee scene was in full swing.

Third wave coffee is characterized by an emphasis on small local roasters, light roasted coffee and traceable coffee origins. Roasters started to market different coffee under the particular regions, farms or coffee farmers who produced them.

Phrases like direct trade, fair trade and single origin started to get thrown around, and unique regions such as Ethiopia Yirgacheffe became recognizable even among coffee consumers.

Finally, like its predecessor, the third wave expanded upon the concept of baristas and roasters as artisans. Notably, the first World Barista Championship was held in 2000, celebrating the artistry and hospitality of the position.

What’s more, barista competitions helped to propel the third wave, with James Hoffman’s notable 2007 win using a light roasted single origin espresso revolutionizing the possibilities for espresso bars.

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The Fourth Wave of Coffee

The relevance of a fourth wave of coffee is unclear. In fact, plenty of folks – many of them third wavers – claim that what the new kids on the scene are calling the fourth wave is still actually the third wave.

Similarities between the two waves abound:

  • Emphasis on local roasters

  • Light roasted coffee

  • Single origin and traceable coffee

  • Direct and ethical trade practices

At the same time, we’ve definitely seen a lot of changes in the coffee world over the last twenty years. I mean, imagine going back to the late 90s and showing an old-school third wave roaster your brand new Jura espresso machine – they’d likely be bewildered!

Making Cold Brew in a Mason Jar

For starters, some consumers have taken a page from ethical green buying practices and consider source transparency when purchasing a bag of beans.

What’s more, social media has brought a slew of coffee influencers, such as Christopher Feran, Umeshisho (Umeko Motoyoshi) and Morgandrinkscoffee (Morgan Eckroth). People learn how to make pour over from YouTube or TikTok videos and scour online forums for reviews on new coffee gadgets.

On that note, perhaps the biggest marker of the potential fourth wave is the shifting presence of coffee in the home. As you can see from my website, we’ve clearly moved up from the humble stovetop percolator. Even classic drip machines are pretty low-tech in comparison to the other brewing methods at our fingertips.

Today, many coffee drinkers embrace the title of “home barista” and tinker with everything from pour over drippers to elaborate home espresso machines. There’s a romanticization of making cafe-quality specialty drinks at home, with the benefits of saving money and building up your barista skills.

What’s more, the fourth wave has seen the idea of “instant coffee” transformed into convenience-forward canned cold coffee, pod machines and super automatic espresso machines.

Is There a Fifth Wave of Coffee?

Though the jury’s still out on whether we’re in the third or fourth wave of coffee culture, somehow questions about the fifth wave have already started to pop up. My short answer is no, but I have a bit more to share on the matter.

Listen, I understand the urge to scan the horizon for the future of the coffee industry. After all, we are an industry of tinkerers, constantly trying to better our work by tweaking fermentation techniques, roasting philosophies, brewing methods and more.

And of course we can’t forget the innovations of the home coffee machine industry, which has a global market size value of over 12 billion USD as of 2024.

So in many ways, it makes sense that we’re thinking: what’s next? Where will we take the coffee industry, and where will the coffee industry take us?

Still, it seems to me that obscure business concepts, industry-wide identity crises and marketing clickbait are rushing us towards a discussion of the fifth wave of coffee. But is this useful, or a distraction from what really matters?

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In reality, we have so many issues to address now:

  • Coffee and climate change

  • The devaluation of coffee as an agricultural product

  • An inequitable supply chain

  • Unfair pricing structures that leave producers, baristas and other coffee professionals struggling to make ends meet

The list goes on.

I’ll talk more about this in my post on the alleged fifth wave of coffee, but my point is this: rather than theorizing about where we are going and trying to put a name to the future, we should focus on righting the wrongs of our past and present.

Through this endeavor, we will eventually build a new chapter of the coffee industry – hopefully one that has sustainability, transparency and equity front and foremost.

Final Thoughts

I hope my introduction to the different waves of coffee has given you a deeper understanding of the coffee industry. There is a lot more to learn about these subjects, so if you’re interested I encourage you to seek out some coffee literature to learn more!

Before I sign off, I should mention that coffee waves can exist side-by-side. This is clear even in the supermarket; you can often find Folgers, Peets and Stumptown coffee all in the same aisle. In other words, just because a new wave has begun doesn’t mean its predecessor has thrown in the towel.

What do you think about coffee waves? Are they helpful benchmarks, or confusing? Any other thoughts or questions to share? Reach out in the comments section below!

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Arne Preuss

Hi! My name is Arne. Having spent years working as a barista I'm now on a mission to bring more good coffee to the people. To that end, my team and I provide you with a broad knowledge base on the subject of coffee.

More about Arne Preuss

Hi! My name is Arne. Having spent years working as a barista I'm now on a mission to bring more good coffee to the people. To that end, my team and I provide you with a broad knowledge base on the subject of coffee.

More about Arne Preuss

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