If you’ve taken any trips to Italy in the last five years and you’re a third wave coffee snob who insists on high end coffee and carefully curated beans, then you were probably surprised to find that third wave style, high end coffee and espressos are barely available there at all, and mostly only cater to tourists!
Part of the problem is the Italian government itself. The government insists that espresso should be affordable to the average Italian, so it’s not possible to sell a lot of high end drinks at a price of around 1 euro. Low prices have left Italian coffee shops where they are almost frozen in time. Of course it’s great to enjoy a traditional experience when you visit Italy, and the coffee definitely isn’t terrible there! In fact, there are plenty of people who would argue that a traditional Italian espresso shot pulled by an Italian barista is simply the best tasting coffee you can get, period.
But the truth is that italian coffee culture hasn’t kept up with the amazing jump in quality you’ll find in big cities around the world at specialty coffee shops because they aren’t using the same level of beans for an espresso priced so low. Imagine how great they’d be if they upgraded the beans!
So what is the third wave coffee movement you ask? Well to answer that we have to know what the first wave and second wave movements were. First wave coffee did not differentiate by origin or beverage type and was not known for high quality coffee. First wave product offerings included instant coffee, grocery store canned coffee, and diner coffee.
Second wave coffee has been credited to more sophisticated coffee shops that brought good coffee to the masses, like Starbucks and Peet’s Coffee and Tea. Here the focus was on coffee quality well beyond the generic good cup of coffee. This brought artisanal sourcing, roasting, and blending into the coffee experience. Second wave coffee also brought the country of origin into the culture of coffee. The coffee industry, local independent coffee shops and local roasters were, for the first time placed a strong focus on the single origin coffee from a particular region. It was second wave coffee that introduced coffee lovers to the highly prized coffee plants that produced arabica coffee beans, grown in high altitudes in tropical zones. In addition second wave coffee introduced coffee-based beverages to the wider coffee-consuming world, particularly the classic Italian espresso.
The third wave of coffee is focused on the quality of coffee. Third-wave coffee is associated with higher quality, specialty coffee and specialty coffee roasters. Some of the best coffee shops roast their beans in house using raw coffee beans and they have perfected specialty coffee beverages.
Here are some of our favorite articles that describe the situation in more detail and also list a few of the third-wave coffee shops that you can find in places like Rome.
Italy invented coffee culture. Now it’s a coffee time capsule.
Third Wave Disruption of the Italian Coffee Market — Starbucks leading the way
Whose Espresso Is Better: Third-Wave Cafés or Traditional Italian Espresso Bars?