New Coffeeshop Makes Waves
The Lynchburg and Forest area is a rare place. Many cities have Starbucks on every corner but in this part of Virginia there are churches on every corner. That’s why places like Third Wave Coffee are so amazing. They are run by Christians, with a lot of Christian view points, but they are not solely for church goers. Third Wave Coffee is more than a shop in a blooming new shopping center, it’s also a movement. This is something I didn’t know upon first going there, walking in with crisp white walls with a few bright colored pictures and two graphics describing coffee, I was drawn by how clean and modern it felt, all while being comfortable. Learning about Third Wave Coffee was so interesting, learning that even coffee can be taken to this whole new level and that this coffee shop was not like most I have ever been in.
Q: What exactly is third wave coffee?
A: There’s actually an entire movement of third wave coffee. Wave one was from the birth place, Ethiopia. The second wave, when coffee became a commodity to our lives and coffee shops were all over the place. Third wave is just trying to take coffee to the next level, similar to wine. Taking it to an artisan level. Sourcing the highest quality coffee, roasting in house, sourcing coffee with direct trade to ensure farmers are able to feed their families. Because in the second wave coffee was in an all-time low, and farmer’s weren’t able to care for their families. So buying higher qualities and sourcing better then farmers are able to take care of their families.
Q: So you mentioned Direct Trade, how does Third Wave Coffee, here in Forest, exemplify that?
A: All of our coffee is held up to direct or fair trade standards, we have different importers that are located in US that go to farms and buy from there. Later, relationship coffee, we will be going to the farms ourselves and learn more about their stories, and you can see who you are supporting. It allows us to take the Gospel there also work in local churches-incorporates missions into the whole process, and bring back pictures tell their stories. All while giving people good coffee. Makes it all more personal, coffee typically just wakes us up, but it is so much more with culture and history, more than just instant coffee. There’s an entire side missing we are bringing to the table.
Q: My next question was how can Third wave be better than regular shops but you pretty much answered it.
A: Well I can add to that, coffee is a better quality that we in source we also roast differently. We roast to different temperatures. We modulate different parts of the roast to bring out different flavors, we will roast and then take that batch, what we learned from H1, and then what do we see, how can we roast this the best way to roast this to its peak level. Whereas the second wave just was brewed coffee, probably just brewed dark and we try to exemplify the taste at its peak. Most of our roast will be light to medium roast. If you roast coffee dark it’s not going to matter so the quality doesn’t matter with second wave. They use marketing word like bold, or strong and these are actually negative connotations for coffee. There should be sweetness and acidity those are all missing from second wave brewing.