The 4th Wave Of Coffee Industry More Ads, Cheaper Coffee?
What comes to your mind when you hear the word “The 4th Wave”?
If you’re a movie afficionado, you might come across a film titled the 5th Wave. It’s about alien invasion trying to wipe out human and humanity. The commonality between that 5th wave and the 4th wave of coffee industry is that it’s a survival for human to coexist or fight back the technological advancement or the unknown.
Like opening tiny legalized "drug" operation in every corner of the street.
In the coffee industry, the 4th wave is all about advancement, leveraging technology and smart concepts with strong focus on expansion and less about craft and customer. The 4th wave of coffee industry is like opening tiny legalized drug operation in every street corners. They serve caffeine and sugar in the same cup with no frills.
Reference : World Coffee Portal to compare all the 1st to the 5th wave of coffee
They serve caffeine and sugar in the same cup with no frills.
The 4th wave is also leveraging the use of apps catering to the smart concepts where people doesn’t have to interact much with anyone behind the counter. Coffee shops and space is no longer about that space to enjoy a warm cup of latte but just that place to supply our caffeine fix so we can survive another day in our job, worse if it’s a boring one.
For coffee aficionado and coffee lovers who enjoys delving into the culture, it’s plain soulless.
The mark of 4th wave is that coffee chains are using smart espresso machine where staffs just need to know how to touch some button to get the espresso. It’s all about “speed” and “efficiency”. The place doesn’t need more than 3 baristas, they just need one person or two attending on the counter and that’s it. The coffee will be ready in less than 2 minutes.
In between waiting, you can even play some games. For example, TOMORO coffee offers a wheel of spin, a game to the customer to try their luck to get some vouchers and free coffee while waiting for your orders. As much as it is smart and advanced, for coffee aficionado and coffee lovers who enjoys delving into the culture and interaction, it’s plain soulless.
In essence, it’s all about franchise and chain operations
In the 4th wave of coffee industry, they are streamlining the operation that it’s so easy to replicate the business. In essence it’s all about franchise and chain operations. They are even marketing it on their app that it’s so easy to open another franchise of operation and they include a CTA (call to action) for those who has the capital to start another operation in their neighborhood.
It’s about time before every waking moment of ours is filled with ads.
There’s also something slightly sinister about the 4th wave of coffee with their ads that before we’re ordering a cup of caffeine, we have to watch an ad. You’re probably just wanting to get your caffeine fix so bad but you have 3 seconds ad before you hit that order button to get your coffee. It’s about time before our every waking moment is filled with ads.
Where do we go after the 4th wave?
As we struggle in the world filled with AI and soon androids, coffee industry isn’t going to be that different. We might as well expect that before we even order our coffee, we need to watch 1-minute ads just so our daily caffeine price could be reduced to lower than 2$ and we’ll be served coffee by androids. Will one day coffee cease to exist? Who knows. Like everything else that’s struggling lately, coffee industry is going to be the same.
It’s either adapt or completely cease to exist.
 | 𝘔𝘢𝘤 𝘪𝘴 𝘢 𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧-𝘦𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘰𝘺𝘦𝘥 𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘫𝘢 & 𝘤𝘰𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘯𝘰𝘪𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘶𝘳 . 𝘈 𝘵𝘺𝘱𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦, 𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘴, 𝘵𝘦𝘤𝘩𝘯𝘰𝘭𝘰𝘨𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘱𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘰𝘱𝘩𝘺. 𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘣𝘭𝘰𝘨, 𝘢 𝘳𝘦𝘧𝘭𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘰𝘧 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘭𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸𝘭𝘦𝘥𝘨𝘦. 𝘚𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘯 𝘤𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘴, 𝘮𝘰𝘷𝘪𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘦𝘸𝘴, 𝘵𝘦𝘤𝘩 𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘦𝘸𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘴, 𝘱𝘩𝘰𝘵𝘰𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘱𝘩𝘺, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘥𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘭𝘰𝘱𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵. 𝘖𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘢 𝘣𝘭𝘶𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘰𝘯, 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘷𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘪𝘮𝘮𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧 𝘪𝘯 𝘭𝘰𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘤𝘶𝘭𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘥𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘱𝘪𝘤𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘢𝘶𝘵𝘪𝘧𝘶𝘭 𝘴𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘴 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘢𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘺. 𝘚𝘩𝘦'𝘴 𝘢𝘯 𝘰𝘤𝘤𝘢𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘧𝘰𝘰𝘥𝘪𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘭𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘯𝘦𝘸 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘥𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘤𝘪𝘰𝘶𝘴 𝘤𝘶𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘳𝘺 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘴. 𝘍𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘰𝘸 𝘢𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘯 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘥𝘷𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘫𝘰𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯! 𝘋𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘩𝘦𝘴𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘶𝘱𝘷𝘰𝘵𝘦, 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘢 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘰𝘳 𝘢 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘥𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬. 𝘈 𝘳𝘦-𝘣𝘭𝘰𝘨 𝘪𝘴 𝘢𝘭𝘴𝘰 𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰𝘰. |
I completely agree with the fact that it’s completely soulless. Literally everything is automated and it’s just a bummer. I hate seeing pourovers being made in an automated machine like I want to see a barista standing across me and making the damn pourover with a gooseneck kettle instead of an automated machine, same goes for espressos.
Brewing a good cup should be like a science experiment one can do themselves. Automation just takes the fun from learning things manually.
Yeah also removes the importance of connection in such moments. Even if it's just being near another person and watching how they do their little craft. We become more isolated and thus less exposed to the many events of the world around us if most things become automated. It's pretty sad.
Yes, I would like to know more about the coffee being prepared and if it’s done manually the barista will have a good insight into it. Anyone with zero knowledge about coffee can work with automation and make coffee but if they can’t explain about it then the learning experience is NIL. Plus this automation will end up reducing the pay for a barista who knows to do it manually.
It's actually odd that certain industries like these might become more 'artistic' ones that cost a bit more money once the franchises go full automation. I can imagine that over time it'll become something like a craft, still many indie cafes that people choose to go to, but the next generations will have these automated places as the norm, they won't have the same appreciation for the connection and humanity side of it over the convenience.
Kind of like how the younger generations now are brought up with things touchscreen smartphones and are more likely to order in food compared to someone that grew up a generation or two before being more likely to physically attend a restaurant for the experience.
Automation is good but something’s should be left as is to preserve the art form.
Convenience has just made people lazy these days. One can just clap to turn the lights off now instead of walking to the switch lol.
Yeah I think for people that grew up before the 2000s they had this nice balance of early convenient tech but also the aspects of normal life since smartphones didn't exist and weren't so invasive. I think I'm one of those people that has a good relationship with tech and knows when to put it down, and what sort of automation I'd prefer to engage with when outside.
But yeah the more time passes the more that sort of thing becomes normalised. Somewhat like how people doomscrolling tiktok with their audio on max on public transport somehow became publicly acceptable haha
Same here I was in 1997 and I like to have a normal balance of both. I’m glad Tik Tok is banned here 😂 but yes people do the same with Instagram these days.
🤣 Thank you for enlivening this discussion and @namiks too! I miss the snobbery hahahah rather than the pick-up, go-to and no talking much during the order.
Haha this was the most fun convo i’ve had in a while 😂
It sounds like a caffeine-fueled dystopia.
So we're just one step away from AI baristas and mandatory ads before we even sip our coffee, huh? Sounds totally futuristic possible. I wonder if the 5th wave will bring it back, or push it further into a vending machine future.
Now that you've mentioned it I can totally imagine a subscription based machine that shows you ads before your brew a coffee if you're on the free version 🤣
Oh no, you just gave them an idea, lol.
Free version: 30 second ad before brewing. Premium version: Instant coffee, but still tracking your caffeine habits. 😆 LOOOOOOOOL.
This machine better have coffee better than Instant Coffee is it’s going to be showing Ads 😂
In that app, there's actually mandatory 3 seconds ads before you can even check the order. We're really there.
That means we're living in the vending machine future already where we just need a loyalty program, where watching more ads may get you extra sugar in your coffee, lol.
What I just read makes me compare this experience to a coffee that should be hot but is served cold.
I like technology to a certain extent, one of the things I enjoy the most is the old fashioned coffee making, from this Olá I rescue the game so I can win if I am alone, now with company I feel that advertising will take seconds of my attention.
Interesting your information about these franchises.
Did you buy the coffee with the machine or the barista? It was good.
@macchiata 😉
Do you also have thriving coffee franchises over there?
If you're a coffee enthusiast, interested in learning more about its process, or just enjoy a good cup of coffee, this community is for you! 🌱☕
At @coffee-lovers, we're building a space to share experiences, knowledge, and above all, our passion for coffee. We’d love for you to be a part of this family where you can learn, contribute, and enjoy the coffee world. Whether you're an expert or a beginner, everyone is welcome!
For more information and to join, just leave us a comment or reach out. See you in the community! 🙌🏼