In
this two-part article, we tell our readers in detail about all three existing
waves of development of the world coffee market, explaining the differences
between them, the periods when these waves took place, as well as the
associated changes in the culture of coffee consumption.
Coffee, as a plant and a beverage, has been known to humans for centuries. Coffee trends have come and gone over that period. But the last 200 years stand out from other times, because during them coffee consumption has developed in the form of «waves», each of which brings its own peculiarities of coffee consumption as a beverage and rules for its cultivation. This evolution of the global coffee industry is what we are talking about here.
The generation of people born in the mid-20th century lived alongside all these waves, perhaps without even realizing it.
The first wave of coffee market development
The «First Wave», began in the early 1800s and ended around the 1950s-1960s. In this wave, coffee was initially a not very well-known product in many countries around the world (mainly during the first half of the 19th century). This period of relative obscurity can be called the 1st part of the 1st wave.
Then people learned about it thanks to people who were wealthy and/or worked in politics (and politicians were introduced to coffee by their foreign colleagues). During this period of widespread global exposure, coffee was a rare and therefore expensive commodity. It was associated exclusively with wealthy people, and therefore the poor did not have access to it. In addition, there was no established international coffee logistics. And that 39-s why it was supplied for a long time from «coffee» exporting countries, there was little of it, which means it cost a lot on any market. This was the case during the 2nd part of the 1st wave, which began and ended in different countries in their own way, over a fairly long period of time. The end occurred sometime between the 1890s and the 1940s.
When, for one reason or another, coffee in a particular country became available to the general public, that is, even poor people could buy it, the 3rd part of the 1st wave began. This is a period of decades when a large amount of very cheap, low-quality coffee flooded the market.
It should be noted that in some countries the first wave did not occur at all due to their poverty, isolation, or political/social isolation from Western civilization. And in some modern countries, the development of the coffee industry remains very low for the same reasons, and there have been no waves of coffee development at all.
The main properties of coffee as a product of the 3rd part of the 1st wave are very low quality and price. And, in fact, low quality was the main characteristic of coffee as a product throughout the 1st wave, because people did not know the nuances of its cultivation, fermentation, and roasting that we know today. Therefore, everyone — both poor and rich — drank coffee of approximately the same quality, with rare exceptions (until the onset of the 3rd part of the 1st wave).
Various coffee brands entered the UK and US markets at the beginning of the 20th century, promoting cheap coffee and not paying much attention to its quality or transparency of its sources.
Coffee of the latter period of the first wave did not try to convince consumers that it was anything special. For 2-3 decades in the early 20th century, most coffee consumers in the United States didn't even know that coffee beans came from an actual plant! None of the coffee promoters of those times even managed to explain to people that their coffee comes from a farm, not a factory.
In those days, there was no (or very rare) mention of the country or farm of origin of the product or information about how the coffee was processed on coffee packaging or in its advertising or official product passports (if any). During this period, the main focus was on the convenience of its consumption and the cheerfulness it provided.
Common characteristics of the first wave of coffee (after it ceased to be a commodity for the rich):
● Artificially flavored grains;
● Widespread and unjustified use of the terms “premium” or “gourmet” in relation to coffee;
● Basically, only ground coffee is available on the market;
●Super dark roast, which produced a very bitter coffee to mask its flaws;
● In supermarkets in the countries where they were, ground coffee in packets began to appear on the shelves.
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