Matt Milletto of Water Avenue Coffee tells me, “Having been more than 20 years in this industry, I feel that the third wave is truly a way of appreciating a quality product.”

There are two key words here: “appreciating” and “quality”. For Matt, it’s both about the coffee we’re drinking and the way we think about it.

Similarly, Dismas Smith of Caffe Ladro, Seattle says, “Third wave coffee does not accept old traditional ways of growing coffee or making coffee.”

In Dismas’ answer, we can also see the importance of every actor in the supply chain: producer, importer, roaster, barista, and consumer. Unlike the first wave, where it was about consumer’s access to coffee, third wave coffee is the result of everyone’s hard work.

However, these are still vague concepts. Let’s break down the third wave into more specific details.

The third wave of coffee is a movement to produce high-quality coffee. It considers coffee an artisanal food, like wine, rather than a commodity. This involves improvements at all stages of production, from improving coffee plant growing, harvesting, and processing, to stronger relationships between coffee growers, traders, and roasters, to higher quality and fresh roasting, at times called "microroasting" (by analogy with microbrew beer), to skilled brewing.

Third wave coffee aspires to the highest form of culinary appreciation of coffee, so that one may appreciate subtleties of flavor, varietal, and growing region – similar to other complex consumable plant-derived products such as wine, tea, and chocolate. Distinctive features of third wave coffee include direct trade coffee, high-quality beans (see specialty coffee for scale), single-origin coffee (as opposed to blends), lighter roasts, and latte art. It also includes revivals of alternative methods of coffee preparation, such as vacuum coffee and pour-over brewing devices such as the Chemex and Hario V60.

The term "Third Wave" was coined in 1999 by Timothy Castle referring to a focus on quality[1] and refers chiefly to the American phenomenon, particularly from the 1990s and continuing today, but with some effects from prior decades. Similar movements exist in India, Taiwan, Japan and broader Asia, and Canada, Australia, Mexico, New Zealand, and Scandinavia. More broadly, third wave coffee can be seen as part of the specialty coffee movement.