WHY THIRD WAVE?
On reading Maxwell Colonna-Dashwood’s new book, Coffee Dictionary, and, arriving at page 218, I find his description of what is being called now as the “Third Wave”, which he writes, was coined by “the expert of the industry Trish Rothberg and has been widely explored by others. The term is basically for USA but the ideas behind the concept that describes a changing approach to coffee can be applied to cultures around the world. The first wave was the commercialization of coffee, mainly defined by mass-market instant coffee. The second wave was the emergence of the coffee shops that now dominate the high street, such as Starbucks”.
As a European, a roaster, and a lover of coffee history, I feel uncomfortable with this description. I am faced with a number of questions on all these new baristas, micro roasters and owners of coffee shops who are emerging in Europe today, presenting themselves under the concept – Third Wave. Do they have any idea or knowledge about the previous two waves? Or do they call themselves the Third Wave because it sounds cool, trendy, makes them into some sort of a tribe, or because it is written in English? Of course I myself am not of this line of thought.
The European culture of coffee has nothing to do with “a mass-market of instant coffee” with the exception of Anglo-Saxon countries. In Europe nobody experienced such a market as coffee came into our lives at the beginning of the eighteenth century. It was percolated coffee that was served in the public establishments, in those great restaurants, and at banquets in the Europe of the Belle Époque; the coffee Balzac purchased from his favourite roaster in Paris, a blend of bourbon, Martinique and Yemen; the one Jules Verne quotes in “Five weeks in a Balloon”; Brillat-Savarin author of “Physiologie du Gôut” personally prepared his coffee. And why not talk about the great European cafés where “we shall have one of the essential indicators of the idea of Europe” according to thinker George Steiner. No, nobody ever drank or served an instant cup of coffee.
I think there is merit in attributing a place in the history of coffee to Mrs. Melitta Benz or Mr. Alfonso Bialetti, whose coffee machines flooded the vast majority of the European coffee houses, with their radical change in the preparation of the drink by a simple method. This has contributed decisively to the increase in drinking coffee at home. Without any doubt, for the coffee shops, the chain production of espresso machines makes it fashionable, world-wide, to drink freshly made coffee at any moment.
I feel like an heir to the European coffee culture that you can sense and feel everywhere, among the beautiful cafés in Trieste, the Viennese cafés of Freud, Zweig or Musil; Café Gijon of Ramón y Cajal in Madrid, Garcia Lorca or Cela, or Els Quatre Gats of Ramón Casas , Picasso or Puig i Cadafalch in Barcelona, among the cafés in Paris where the French Revolution was hatched or those where Sartre, De Beauvoir, Picasso, Gide gathered and so many other cafés spread along the length and breadth of Europe where politics, art and liberalism were fashioned. Though I recognize contribution made by some of the big chains, I feel more culturally akin to that described before.
To be able to supply all these places there were importers in Hamburg, Bremen, Trieste, Barcelona, and Le Havre. And yes, they travelled and brought back with them coffees that also had a designation of origin. They wrote books and created centres for study. Do you know René Coste? In the 1920’s he travelled to Africa, contracted malaria and wrote an incredible book, on coffee, consisting of three volumes which he did not publish until the end of the 50’s. He became the General Director of the French Institute of Coffee and Cocoa, embryo of CIRAD. Philippe Jobin? He travelled around the world and wrote Les Cafés Produits dans le Monde. Italian Leonida Valeria, of whom I have not been able to find a biography, with his Café e Derivatti published in 1927: covering chemistry, roasting curves, espresso machines. We are also their heirs and we should not forget them.
In short, explaining recent history of coffee in the world with these three waves would be like telling the history of cuisine through what was cooked and eaten in USA or England!
Leyendo el nuevo libro de Maxwell Colonna-Dashwood Coffee Dictionary llegó en la página 218 a la descripción de lo que venimos llamando “Third Wave” y leo que fue acuñado por “el experto de la industria Trish Rothberg y ha sido ampliamente explorado por otros. El término es básicamente para USA pero las ideas detrás del concepto que describe una aproximación cambiante al café, pueden ser aplicadas a culturas alrededor del mundo.
Caffè e Derivati 1927
As early as 1927, the relationship between the substances that are formed and those that volatilize during the action of heat during roasting was studied.
In short, explaining the world history of coffee with these three “waves” would be like explaining the history of cuisine by what has been eaten and cooked in the USA or England.
Matías Lopez y Lopez 1870
Coffee for sale in Madrid in 1870, pg 28 already in 1870 coffee was sold in Madrid.
Cafetos y Cafés 1924
Roasting and acidity, as early as 1924, the relationship between the degree of roasting and acidity was evaluated.
Reference of the scanned books:
1 “Breve Narración y Apuntes acerca de la Utilidad y Preparación del Café”
author: D. Matías Lopez y Lopez, 1ª edición 1870, Madrid.
(Awarded at the London, Peris, Bayonne, Oporto, Zaragoza, Madrid and other national and foreign exhibitions.)
2 “Caffè e Derivati” Manual Hoepli. Industrie – Comercio – Usi – Sfruttamenti Nuovi e Razionali.
author: Leonida Valerio, 1927, Milano.
3 “Cafetos y Cafés en el Mundo” Sindicato Nacional de la Alimentación, Grupo de Torrefactores de Café.
Translated from the work of Mr. René Coste, edited by Larose-Paris 1964.
Second tome. Volum 1.