4th Wave of Coffee - Project by Robert Paulig Roastery and Artisan Cafe

BLOG // JORI KORHONEN // HELSINKI // 29.4.2020

4th wave of coffee - what is it? In 3rd wave it was all about micro-roasterys, handcraft and sourcing transparency. What can be expected of the 4th wave of coffee and what is the project that Robert Paulig Roastery and Artisan Café did together to show us all an example what the 4th wave of coffee is all about.

What is the 4th wave of coffee? The coffee market develops in waves and the development is best described as five waves of development. Each wave has their defining characteristics and factors that make them unique and special. In a nutshell, the waves can be described as following;

• 1st wave - traditional coffee culture - commodity driven, mass consumption and dominance of bulk brew filter coffee

• 2nd wave - branded chains - coffee shop culture, customised espresso-based beverages and globalisation

• 3rd wave - artisan coffee - focus on quality, micro-roasting, handcrafting and sourcing transparency

If you want to know more about the coffee waves, check out Karkki's blog. In the recent years we have started to see the 4th wave in different places and it is starting to be an every day thing in the big cities like London, Berlin, New York and Tokyo. The 4th wave celebrates the science of coffee and the obsession to detail and perfect taste experience. The defining characteristics of 4th wave of coffee are;

• science of coffee

• accurate measurement in brewing

• deep understanding of properties of coffee

• water chemistry 

• development of brewing equipment

• quality: Jani won Finnish Brewers Cup 2020 with this coffee

• coffee production: the coffee is anaerobicly fermented which is one of the new ways to process coffee