Currently, the coffee industry in Indonesia has progressed to the third wave. Nevertheless, the Indonesian coffee wave has not halted there. Over time, coffee has continued to evolve and is presently entering its fourth wave.

Each wave brings with it a distinct culture of coffee consumption among Indonesians. As development advances, coffee enthusiasts become increasingly curious about the origins and processes behind their coffee.

Hence, coffee lovers are no longer solely concerned with how to make coffee; they have also begun to pay attention to the fundamentals. For instance, they are keen to learn about how coffee is cultivated, roasted, and finally transformed into that delightful cup of coffee they savor.

What are Coffee Waves or Coffee Waves ?

Simply put, a coffee wave is a condition or moment when there is a major change in terms of how consumers relate to coffee. The waves represent how consumers have different tendencies in each wave.

In each wave, consumers have a different focus. Some focus on the commodity of coffee, how fast it is served and how much it costs, to how the origin of a coffee.

All of that was recorded in the coffee wave. By knowing how the coffee wave is developing, it makes it easier for coffee industry businesses to better understand consumers.

So, how has the Indonesian coffee wave developed?

The First Wave of Coffee (First Wave)

The first wave started in the 1800s. At that time, the coffee industry was more concerned with packaging. The quality in terms of taste has not been given much attention. The innovation that emerged in this wave was vacuum packaging.

The packaging was created by the founder of Hill Bros Coffee, R.W. Hills. The packaging keeps the coffee beans fresher and longer because it removes air from the coffee packaging.

Apart from packaging, this wave also gave rise to instant coffee in the early 1900s. The coffee is easily accepted by the public because of its practicality. At that time, the Nestle brand with Nescafe products was a well-known brand for instant coffee.

Second Wave of Coffee

In this second wave, consumers have started to want to know the origin of where their coffee comes from. This wave happened in the 1980s. The reason is that consumers started protesting the bad taste of coffee. This is where flavor quality becomes important in coffee.

During this time, consumers also started to want the best experience in drinking coffee. So, they no longer see coffee as just a drink, but as an experience.

One of the factors of the best experience is the taste. Therefore, to get the best flavor, consumers need to know how the coffee-making process happens. In this wave, a well-known brand that understands consumer tendencies is Starbucks.

The brand strives to deliver the best coffee experience by providing great social interaction. People who come to Starbucks are not just there to drink coffee, but there is also social value to be gained. Now, Starbucks has become a lifestyle icon that is closely associated with being a meeting place, a place to work, and so on.

The Third Wave of Coffee ( Third Wave )

This third wave occurred in the 2000s. To be precise, when Thrish Rotgheb made this point in his 2002 article. At this time, coffee consumers start to want to know more about coffee itself.

While in the second wave, consumers simply wanted to know the origin of their coffee, in this third wave, consumers want to know more about the detailed characteristics of the coffee itself. They really find out about the characteristics of each coffee. Starting from the beans used during planting, the harvesting process, and until finally the coffee is served to consumers.

Hence, this wave is dominated by coffee consumers who have their own coffee tastes. At this time, it is very easy for consumers to get information about the coffee they drink. This has led to the emergence of a wide variety of tastes from consumers.

This third wave was also the time when the term single origin emerged. A coffee that comes from the same source. Whether it’s the same region, type, and crop.

The emergence of the Fourth Wave ( Fourth Wave )

After the emergence of three waves of coffee, what about the development of the emergence of the fourth wave? According to Perfect Daily Grind, the fourth wave of coffee comes with scalability. This fourth wave focuses on growth in numbers.

Expand the market from small to large. This is shown by the easier access to know how the coffee process is made.

Therefore, the emergence of this coffee wave is still being debated. This is because the concept is still unclear. The fourth wave is considered not to have taken coffee science to the next level of development.

The wave only brought high-quality coffee in the third wave to be more readily available to consumers. In addition, the focus of this fourth wave is on how the commercialization of coffee can provide value in the supply chain at scale.

During this fourth wave of Indonesian coffee, the term ‘coffee automation’ was introduced, ushering in a plethora of automatic machines designed to create the most flavorful coffee possible.

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