First Wave. Second Wave. Third Wave Coffee.
The first wave is all about consumption.
The second wave is about enjoyment and defining specialty.
…and the third allows the coffee to speak for itself. The third wave appreciates each coffee for what it truly is and takes whatever necessary steps to highlight the amazing, unique character in every coffee. – Nick Cho
First Wave. Second Wave. Third Wave Conversation.
I’ve yet to come across conversation defined in terms of waves, but if I were to do so, which is what I’m doing here, I’d suggest that First Wave Conversation is about face to face, Second Wave Conversation analog (phone, fax, to dial-up Internet), and Third Wave Conversation moves to mobile and high-speed Internet, and the many communication tools (email, text, social networking etc.) it has made possible.
In search of a few articles to more fully understand Third Wave Coffee, I sent a tweet from my laptop while at a coffee shop during a face to face conversation, and received the following reply from @smoovebcoffee:
“Third wave” is going the way of “gourmet.” Everybody has an idea of what you mean, but roll their eyes when you say it.
This exchange, which resulted in a genuine point of view about Third Wave Coffee, is what makes Third Wave Conversation fundamentally different than those past. Like that of Third Wave Coffee, there are no boundaries. Trish R. Skeie, who is well known for differentiating Third Wave Coffee from waves past, writes:
In recent years, specialty coffee has developed into one gigantic thinktank, it seems. Pretty much anyone who has an opinion or an idea is welcomed at the table. Groups, forums and programs have emerged that support this new climate. Perhaps these systems of communication and information have developed as a by-product of the quest for coffee nirvana. Either way, the third wave is all-inclusive and growing.
This description embodies much of what Third Wave Conversation is all about; a place where face to face conversation meets status updates on Facebook and tweets on Twitter. And maybe interrupted by a phone call. In a similar way, these systems of communication strive for information nirvana, and they regularly meet in the coffee shop.
According to Ivor Tosell, online lives are rewiring coffee shop culture. I couldn’t agree more. He writes:
This is why coffee shops are such curious places. Spending time in one means spending time in public around strangers, being privy to their conversations and flirting with the possibility of talking to them.
The ritual of preening, ignoring, overhearing, rubbing elbows with, and occasionally chatting with, people we barely know is as tantalizing as it is intimidating, especially for people who spent their childhoods being told to out-and-out fear strangers. And the more time I spend in coffee shops, the more familiar it all seems.
This is old hat: It’s exactly what we’ve been learning to do online.
What we do online is what people have been doing in coffee shops for centuries. And now they’re very much intertwined. However, some people are legitimately concerned that coffee shops are becoming less First Wave Conversation friendly. And there is some truth to this. Michael Idov writes:
And yet it seems that we’re losing the coffeehouse—less to the usual suspects like the Internet and Dunkin’ Donuts than to our own politeness. We’ve brought the noise level down to a whisper and are in the process of losing even the whisper: Enter the modern café and the loudest sound you’ll hear will be someone typing, in ALL CAPS, an angry blog comment.
While nothing can replace face to face conversation, I would also suggest the same can be said of online conversation. And a recent study by the Pew Internet & American Life Project suggests that technology doesn’t make people antisocial after all.
So go ahead, update your Facebook status, send your tweets, and strike up a conversation. Send a text message and quietly take a phone call. All of these exchanges (and more) are happening at Third Wave Coffee shops where the coffee speaks for itself.
What conversations will coffee be brewing for you today?
2 Comments
I love the name – and idea – of “third wave conversation”!
I’ve long felt that Web 3.0 will be all about opening portals between the online and offline worlds in ways that expand the scope of the “architecture of [online] participation” that some argue is the hallmark of Web 2.0, and agree that the coffeehouse may be the ideal place “where face to face conversation meets status updates on Facebook and tweets on Twitter”.
That said, I think it’s important to note that while the Pew study you mentioned did find inverse correlations between social isolation and the use of some technologies (mobile phones, photo sharing and instant messaging), the use of social networking services (like Facebook) does appear to substitute for – rather than supplement – some level of local involvement in the physical world.
But I share your hope that there are special places – third places – in the real world where people will engage in third wave conversations.
@Joe As you can tell, my intention was to suggest that the changes we see in coffee, coffee shops, and coffee culture parallel and/or are influenced (at least) by the mediums in which people can strike up conversations. The ability to more easily share information has affected what’s now brewing in coffee shops and at home, and in many cases, it’s positive.
Nothing can and should replace face to face conversation, but as you know, online conversations lead to face to face and vice versa. Ultimately, the more people discuss, critique, and analyze the intersection of face to face, mobile, and online conversation (even while at coffee shop), the more conscientiousness people can become about the advantage of participating in all three—Third Wave Conversations.