The Fifth Wave Of Coffee

What's Next For The Coffee Industry?

Throughout human history, products, industries, and even society itself have gone through constant waves of significant development, and coffee is no different. There are five waves of coffee that we know of; the term “Wave of Coffee” refers to a period in time or stage in the coffee industry. These waves represent big changes in the industry and the changes in global culture brought by coffee itself. The 5th wave of coffee is conceptual, and before diving into our take on it, let’s throw ourselves back to the start of it.

The Different Coffee Waves Explained

The First Wave of Coffee

Began in the 20th century, when it was first introduced. Coffee became a commodity, probably the wave when the lowest quality of coffee was sold with no strong focus on quality. There was no sourcing transparency, no mention of its origin or how it was processed. The only major focus was on the convenience of buying coffee. The coffee was super dark and bitter. People themselves had little or no knowledge about the product being consumed; many didn’t even know coffee beans came from a real-life plant!

The Second Wave of Coffee

Started in the mid-1990s when companies noticed and filled the void in terms of flavor and higher quality. There was a lot of focus on flavored drinks; few companies started mentioning the origin countries of their coffee. They didn’t still guide the customer to the coffee; they guided them to the experience. The focus was on having coffee as part of our daily life, about the friendly baristas, and the mood enhancer. Slightly bitter coffee.

The Third Wave of Coffee

The coffee movement that started in the 2000s introduced lighter roast profiles, special flavors like rose, orange, and honey sweetness. Latte art began in the third wave, single-origin coffee, and higher transparency to coffee’s origin. Brewing methods that were manual, involving pour-over cones and French press, were introduced.

The Fourth Wave of Coffee

In the 2010s, referred to as the science of coffee, is when coffee was produced with accuracy and measurement. There was a deep understanding of the properties of coffee and its ingredients. The usage of advanced equipment for making the coffee began. Custom in-house roasting was introduced.

The Fifth Wave of Coffee

Reflects a powerful new era of scaled boutique hospitality and is the current ideology shaping business trends across the global coffee industry. Put simply, the 5th Wave implies scaling up consistent high quality to achieve a highly successful, customer-centric, and sustained business outcome.

A reflection of the era in which we live, the 5th Wave for SLAY Coffee represents a quantum leap in the caliber of vision and execution required to meet the desires, needs, and aspirations of today’s highly savvy and technically engaged millennial audience and tomorrow’s Gen Z.

Thinking Forward

Where The Coffee Industry Will Be In The Next 10 Years?

SLAY Coffee possesses the mindset to constantly strive toward excellence, meticulous engineering by refining every process. We stand to scale quality for each and every customer, which requires unflinching discipline, Herculean stamina, authentic flair, and relentless innovation for quality and customer engagement.

We understand how overpriced, inconvenient coffee experiences hamper your daily grind and lead to frustration. Having a customer-centric approach has enabled us to meet the deep dive into the requirements of the customer through innovation and quality. The new era is redefined by us by offering an experience at home that delivers coffee that is fresh, piping hot, and of superior quality at home. Crafted by professional baristas themselves, it sounds just right for the present age where people find it hard to get time in their busy day to make the coffee themselves. We managed to convince the crowd with our vision by offering coffee in temperature-proof, spill-proof packaging. Inside the packaging, you receive gourmet-sealed coffee. It’s not only the coffee that’s exquisite, but the focus has been on the creative packaging as well, providing a customer-rich experience. For those interested in brewing their own coffee, SLAY Coffee also offers coffee whole beans, ground, pour-over, etc., on major e-commerce websites like Amazon. We are completely transparent with its sourcing to an extent we use blockchain technology to let you trace your coffee’s origin, which we refer to as SLAY Grid.

The convenience of getting our coffee through food delivery apps like Swiggy or Zomato makes the whole process seamless. A whole range of flavors and varieties are available in more than 130 locations all over India. So if you fall in love with our coffee in Bangalore and have to relocate to Delhi for work, you will still have your daily elixir to help begin your day.

A blend of the best parts of the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th waves, while we deliver at-home barista coffee experience, really shows how as a brand we are using innovation and quality to deliver a surprisingly overwhelming experience like no other.