By Madison Mace
| Wave | Years | Generation | Focus | Common Preferences |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| FIRST | Prior to 1970 | Silent Generation | Mass Production | Pre-ground canned and instant coffee: Coffee seen as just a kitchen staple and caffeine fix. |
| SECOND | 1970 - 2000 | Boomers & Older Gen X | Cafe Culture | Dark Roast Coffee: Rise of espresso-based drinks, associating strong flavor with quality and nostalgia. |
| THIRD | 2000 - 2015 | Younger Gen X & Older Millennials | Artisanship | Medium Roast Coffee: Nuanced flavors, smooth balanced acidity, and a fuller body. |
| FOURTH | After 2015 | Younger Millennials & Gen Z | Sustainability | Light Roast Coffee: Origin-specific flavors and empowering coffee-growing communities. |
The First Wave
Before around 1970, coffee was viewed as a staple beverage. Bought as pre-ground canned coffee designed for a long shelf life, there was little awareness nor interest in a coffee’s origin or production. This period of time is considered the First Wave – consumers focused on quantity, consistency, and convenience.
The Second Wave
Second Wave coffee began around the 1970s and lasted until the turn of the century. Spearheaded by brands like Starbucks and Peet’s Coffee, consumers began to focus more on flavor and café culture. Rather than just a kitchen staple, coffee became a social and aesthetic experience, emphasizing coffee shops as social hubs and introducing espresso-based drinks to the United States. To emulate the richer and bolder “European” flavor of espresso drinks in increasing demand, roasters began to make dark roast coffee beans. As a result, dark roast coffee became synonymous with sophistication. In fact, we still see a preference for dark roast coffee in older generations today, as the popularization of dark roast coffee coincides with Baby Boomers and older Gen X emerging into adulthood and starting to drink coffee.
The Third Wave
In the early 2000s, consumer demand shifted to focus on the origin and sustainability of the bean, beginning the Third Wave of coffee. During this time, roasters realized that medium roasts balance sweetness, acidity, and body – allowing origin notes to shine through without the smokiness of a dark roast, while still smoothing out the vibrancy and acidity of a light roast. Like with dark roast coffee and Baby Boomers, we still see a preference for medium roasts in Millennials and younger Gen X, most of whom became adults and began drinking coffee around this time.
Third wave coffee prioritizes the craft of coffee, valuing ethical sourcing, quality beans, and precise brewing techniques. Whereas the second movement focused on the taste and social happenings of coffee, the third movement treats coffee as an experience. It’s not just about enjoying the cup itself, but also the artisanship in every step from farm to roaster to cup. As a result, specialty single-origin beans grew incredibly popular. Rather than a blend, which combines beans from multiple regions to customize or balance out certain flavors, single-origin beans all come from the same region and, oftentimes, from just one farm. Nearly every factor that goes into growing coffee can change its taste, including growing altitude, soil composition, rainfall, and sun exposure. Although a blend has its benefits, single-origin beans allow you to experience the unique notes specific to that region and appreciate the incredible amount of chemistry the beans have undergone to bring you that flavor.
The Fourth Wave
We are currently living the Fourth Wave of coffee. Still an evolving phase, there is no single agreed-upon definition, but most coffee experts see the fourth wave as a focus on science, technology, sustainability, and inclusivity. Beyond the artisanal nature of the Third Wave, we are experiencing a new data-driven era of coffee which uses technology for scientific precision and accessibility. Roasting analytics makes it easier for coffee roasters to track roast curves and maintain consistency between batches, while extraction science is allowing baristas to measure brew strength and yield precisely, making quality replicable and quantifiable and improving at-home brewing technology. While the third wave did have a focus on ethical sourcing, we are seeing the fourth wave emphasize more systemic sustainability with regenerative agriculture and local empowerment for the communities which grow coffee.
In the 2010s, towards the end of the third wave and into the fourth, the prioritization of bean origin caused light roast coffee to skyrocket in popularity. Once seen as “underdeveloped” or too acidic, younger Millennials and Gen Z coffee drinkers tend to prefer the vibrancy of light roasts and their ability to emphasize origin-specific flavors.