ABSTRACT
The latest craze in coffee focuses on finding the most flavorful coffee beans, preparing them with awesome expertise, and creating a sublime experience for the discerning coffee lover. While perspectives on the time frame differ, the first wave of coffee involved the rapid expansion of production and spread of coffee consumption with little concern for quality. The second wave, with the emergence of specialty coffee shops, highlighted the social experience of coffee and the importance of quality. The third wave was born around 2000, as coffee connoisseurs started searching far-flung corners of the world for unique, unparalleled coffee varietals. The third wave has created coffee's most self-indulgent moment in history. Coffee cooperatives that process and market their own coffee, such as Thrive Coffee of Costa Rica, earn much more than those that sell green coffee.
