- Coffee facts
Luxury. Dishwater. Luxury.
Karsten Suhr
When I was having coffee with friends recently and just wanted to shine a little bit with my “expert knowledge” – I got caught! “Do you know anything about the 1st and 2nd wave, since everyone is talking about the 3rd wave now?” Well. Yes. I could not really provide an extensive explanation. So: I sat down with a cup of coffee and did my homework (meaning research) – and here is the story about the rise and fall and again the rise of coffee to become the ultimate indulgence.
The socialization of bad taste.
In its early days coffee was black gold. A luxury beverage for the noble and the rich. The monopolist in cultivation was the former Ottoman Empire, which wanted to keep its status and kept watch over the plants as if they were the crown jewels. But as it is often the case: Criminal energy cannot be stopped. The European colonial powers had seedlings stolen and the cultivation extended to South and Central America. When coffee became a homegrown good in Brazil, that was the breakthrough. Coffee was no mass product yet, but the first coffee houses were established.
During the industrialization, coffee parallelly developed to become more and more of an everyday companion. Yet, not as an indulgence, but as a strong source for caffeine. The stronger and the faster prepared the better. And because the production of coffee was also industrialized, it became affordable for most of the people. Eventually, instant coffee was the final factor for the coffee market to extent, because it did not need a filter or a coffee machine to be prepared. Coffee beans were banned from the shelfs and the consumers were wowed by the TV commercial of large manufacturers and automatically chose to buy the packages with the large “J”. That was the only quality feature that was needed for this inedible brown dishwater.
Lucky for me, that was not how I was socialized – even back then, my parents (for whatever reason) attached great value to taste, aromas, and fine flavors. Which also seemed to be the case in Italy: Here, espresso machines were invented during that time and steadily further developed. So, at least there, the taste of coffee was (luckily) the main focus.
So much for the first wave, which rolled around from 1930 to 1960.
foto:
mohamed shaffaf on unsplash
So much for the first wave, which rolled around from 1930 to 1960.
foto: mohamed shaffaf on unsplash
The 2nd wave. Or: Help, the Americans are coming!
If you like it or not: Starbucks played a major role in the development of coffee or rather its taste. Or rather the taste of the people who drink it. In the early 80s Starbucks achieved the international breakthrough with its new owner Howard Schulz. All the sudden, people started caring about the quality of the beans and prepared fresh cappuccino or latte macchiato from them. And some tried to copy the Italian espresso bar. But the American way.
That also led to “creations” like vanilla latte or white chocolate mocha, which make real coffee aficionados shiver. (In fact, it took 35 years for the first Starbucks coffee shop to open in Italy). But, honor to whom honor is due: Without the to-go-customers from Seattle coffee beans, dark, opulent roasts, and especially different kinds of coffee, would not have found their way to the German coffee consumers. Even though it became fancy to order an ex(!)presso at the Italian place around the corner. But only very slowly people became aware of the fact that there were different ways of preparation besides the drip coffee.
3rd wave coffee. Indulgence is back.
And not only indulgence. The perception of coffee changed radically. While it had been “irrelevant” up to that point where the coffee came from, let alone how it was cultivated and roasted, transparency and quality all the sudden became the main focus – and they still are. And what can we say: Again, the Americans got a lot of things moving. Small coffee roasters became cool and were the connecting element between producer and consumer. Individuality and characteristic taste became popular, the coffee-guy became a barista and a fancy portafilter machine became a must-have.
All of that has been put into perspective since the 90s. After the technical-portafilter-hype the coffee itself became the focus. Its cultivation, being organic or even Demeter, is transparent and trackable. The taste pictures with flowery descriptions of aromas, flavors, acids are in no way inferior to those of wine. There are barista challenges and competitions, award-winning experts and specialties. Certificates, that ensure that coffee farmers are not exploited (Fairtrade) and biological or rather biodynamical cultivation is further developed. Amazing.
And what about a 4th wave?
A glance into the crystal ball.
Of course, we have no idea what the future will bring. But, considering the fact that the climate change also effects the growing regions of coffee – meaning that either coffee types will need to be cultivated that are more heat-resistant or that the farms will have to be located on higher altitudes, which means poorer harvests – then one can imagine that outrageously delicious coffee may become a luxury good. But maybe that is not such a bad thing. Because it is all about quality, not quantity. Let’s be courageous.
