What third wave of coffee? Don't turn boutique coffee into the beginning of the "coffee disdain chain"!

In the past decade, the coffee industry has developed rapidly, and more and more partners have paid more and more attention to boutique coffee due to the influence of the third wave of coffee. So there is always a feeling: boutique coffee = the third wave of coffee.

In fact, the third wave of coffee does not really mean a cup of coffee, but contains all the elements of coffee, showing a complete supply chain, which is an experience. And boutique coffee is what we come into contact with in the whole experience.

Compared with the first wave of coffee emphasizing the convenience of drinking coffee and the second wave of coffee emphasizing the importance of fresh grinding, the third wave of coffee emphasizes the importance of the whole coffee supply chain.

The difference between the three is that one is to make people aware of the existence of coffee, one is to make people realize that freshly ground beans and professional baristas are needed to taste good coffee, and the other is to make people realize that a good cup of coffee is not only the credit of baristas, but also plays an important role in roasters, raw bean merchants and growers.

Improving the quality of coffee, direct trade, more emphasis on the importance of sustainable development, the use of shallow roasting, a variety of brewing methods, and so on, are the characteristics of the third wave of coffee.

Compared with the first wave of coffee just for speed, the second wave only emphasizes fresh grinding, and the third wave makes people feel that the coffee itself can also show a unique taste. Therefore, more and more consumers pursue the sweet and sour taste of coffee, the complexity and uniqueness of coffee flavor.

However, this only represents the coffee flavor, coffee quality has improved, this is the basis of boutique coffee, but not all. When talking about boutique coffee, many people talk about professional knowledge about the variety, planting, processing, roasting and brewing of coffee beans, but few people mention customer service.

The "boutique" of boutique coffee is an important element of a series of quality services, because it ensures the quality of the coffee that drinkers will drink and systematically evaluates its quality. Whether the coffee is good or not, whether it can have a high score, and whether it can attract the attention of consumers, all need professional and service interpretation.

The third wave of coffee is widely recognized because it creates an experience that makes consumers feel special, in which customer service is one link, and the story behind coffee is another.

People will pay attention to boutique coffee driven by the third wave. In addition to the improvement of coffee quality, it is also inseparable from the unique charm of roasters and baristas in showing a coffee bean itself. in addition, the story woven by producers, importers, bean bakers and baristas, as well as the story conveyed by baristas, adds the value of a cup of coffee.

Therefore, high-quality coffee is not important in the bean cup test, whether the bean flavor is rich, the important thing is that it does not show the advantages of coffee itself from a professional point of view, whether it is grower, trader, roaster or coffee extractor.

Is the boutique coffee formed after the third wave? Of course not. The concept of boutique coffee was put forward in 1978, which means to cultivate coffee beans with unique flavor under special climatic and geographical conditions, that is, coffee beans that can show a unique regional (producing area) flavor can be called boutique coffee. The third wave was born after the millennium, and consumers' real focus on boutique coffee did not begin until 2009.

After the concept of boutique coffee was put forward, coffee growers in various regions paid attention to the performance of coffee bean taste, and constantly looked for and cultivated coffee varieties that could show better flavor and ensure yield. Also began to understand the impact of coffee bean extraction process (coffee bean treatment) environment on coffee taste performance.

Because the quality is not stable, and under the influence of the second wave of espresso (the second wave), most of the coffee beans are deeply roasted, and the flavor in the coffee will be gradually "assimilated" under the influence of excessive caramelization. In the end, it only shows a bitter and mellow flavor.

After more than a decade of continuous research on planting varieties, the quality of coffee beans has been greatly improved and more stable, so roasters began to try to shallow roast coffee beans, so that the sweet and sour taste of coffee can be preserved, and further subdivide the defective taste of coffee beans.

At the same time, there are more coffee bean competitions, so that more growers understand that only a clear flavor will be honored, and their own coffee will have a higher purchase price, thus encouraging people to pay more attention to cultivation and cultivation.

Why is the boutique coffee suddenly concerned by consumers after 2009? Because the American Fine Coffee Association redefines the term boutique coffee, it says that according to the cup test standard of SCA, coffee beans with a score of more than 80 points are fine coffee. Because this statement is easy to understand, many cafes began to use it to promote boutique coffee.

Of course, there were not many coffee beans with more than 80 points at that time, and the price of coffee beans was on the high side, but every coffee interpreter cherished every opportunity to show. let consumers feel that this cup of coffee has a unique quality and differences from ordinary coffee, but also let more consumers feel the charm of boutique coffee.

But nowadays, more and more interpreters only pay attention to the unique quality of coffee and show their professionalism, weakening customer service gradually, so that many people who are new to coffee feel the "disdain" from boutique coffee. Obviously, these are not the actions that can make the coffee industry develop healthily, nor is it the message of a cup of boutique coffee.

Want to coffee quality is getting better and better, want more and more people to appreciate high-quality coffee, can not do without more and more people to pursue coffee, consumers and the supply chain is a cycle.

The emergence of boutique coffee, it is inseparable from the fact that more consumers pursue coffee-- make growers plant and handle it more carefully-- make raw bean merchants look for good quality beans more attentively-- make bakers more willing to study roasting methods that can make coffee beans show better flavor-- enable baristas to study more extraction methods that show flavor levels-- pass on more expertise-- so that consumers have more pursuit of coffee.

Coffee is highly inclusive, and so are those in the coffee industry. Everything can continue to change for the better, because more people have a pursuit, and it is not a good thing for anyone to deviate from the orientation of fine coffee.

Photo Source: Internet

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