tags: [] - coffee/history - coffee/culture aliases: - third wave emergence 2000s - early third wave created: 2026-05-10 updated: 2026-05-10
2000s Third Wave Emergence¶
Tags: #coffee/history #coffee/culture Aliases: third wave emergence 2000s, early third wave Related: Third Wave Coffee | Intelligentsia Coffee | Specialty Coffee MoC Status: 🌱 Stub
Overview¶
The 2000s saw the emergence of what became known as the third wave of coffee, with Intelligentsia's Direct Trade programme (2003), Stumptown's quality-obsessed sourcing, the first World Barista Championship (2000) establishing competition culture, and Trish Rothgeb's 2002 article in the Roasters Guild Newsletter coining the term "third wave" — a decade that shifted specialty coffee's focus from coffeehouse experience to bean quality and origin transparency. These developments produced a generation of roasters and baristas who approached coffee as a craft and a science, drawing comparisons to the fine wine and artisan food movements. The period established direct producer relationships and single-origin transparency as defining values of the specialty sector.
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