Monday, January 27, 2014

Coffee Trends - The Third Wave

There is a trend emerging and gaining popularity; it is called the "third wave of coffee". This trend is rather common and popular in the United States and now it has made its way to Japan.

So what is this trend? It is the practice of choosing coffee based on where the coffee was grown (not just the country but also the particular farm it was grown on). Depending on the country (and farm) the coffee was grown, the coffee drinkers focus on different ways of brewing or even roasting the coffee; there is the traditional method, the single cup coffee method, hand drip method, etc.

So why is it called the "third wave"? Well, the first wave of coffee exploration came in the 60s and 70s when tons and tons of coffee was being consumed seemingly 24/7. The second wave came in the era known as "Seattle coffee" which occurred in the 80s & 90s when Starbucks and other chains, mostly from Seattle like the name implies, were coming to the market and experienced massive success.

This past Fall, coffee drinkers in Japan saw an event happen that allowed them to enjoy Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee for the first time; with this kind of coff
ee, brewers make the coffee via traditional drip method. What is this method (for those who don't know)? It is allowing hot water to make its way through the ground beans and through a filter.

What sparked this trend? Well, coffee connoisseurs realized that depending on where the coffee is from, it will taste differently, much like wine, due to the climate and the soil it grew in that year. So what did the event crowd think of the Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee? They thought the coffee had a good combination of flavor with hints of acidic taste; a generic description that describes quite a bit of coffee kinds.

This trend has sparked a new trend for coffee houses as now they are starting to label where the coffee was grown.

As online coffee retailers and an national online coffee distributor, we love that there are new trends in coffee, they keep it exciting. This particular trend is interesting and brings a certain level on intricacy to coffee consumption that wasn't there before.

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