
5th, 5th waveth Wave TM, reflecting a powerful new era of retail luxury small-store service that is spreading and is the modern ideology that shapes the business trends of the global coffee industry. To put it more simply, the fifth wave refers to the continuous improvement of quality to achieve successful business results, sustainability, customer-centricity. Let Helena learn about The 5th wave of coffeee.
Main Contents
What is the 5th wave?
The fifth wave concept was developed by consultancy Allegra Strategies and refined in the Allegra World Coffee Portal after two decades of research and analysis. The fifth wave is the culmination of all four previous waves in the development of the coffee industry. The first wave depicted traditional coffee drinking in the 20th century.
It reflects different cultures and geographical regions throughout history – characteristic of the second wave in the early development of lifestyle-based brands such as Starbucks Coffee Company. The third wave is characterized by handcrafted coffee. The fourth wave is characterized by coffee science.
Each wave period has its own value, contributing greatly to the deep layer and the rise of coffee enjoyment.
The fifth wave reflects the times we live in, representing the dramatic change in vision and practice required to satisfy the desires, needs, and aspirations of thousands of people today who are wise, knowledgeable, and always associated with technology and satisfying the future Generation Z.
Today’s 5th wave businesses deliver inspiring experiences with dedicated service to clearly defined target customers. These pioneering enterprises are very commercial, have a constantly thriving mind towards excellent quality, meticulously accurate technology, and distill each process. These businesses are characterized by professional, business-minded, well-invested, ambitious people, understanding the important role of culture, systems and training throughout, investing in perfect and convenient technology development – not for light work, But with the desire to conquer the positive experience of customers.
The quality and scale may be relative. The fifth wave isn’t necessarily a costly offering, nor does it extend to hundreds of sales places.
Improving every interaction with customers requires a consistent code of conduct, extraordinary patience, real talent, and constant innovation.

The fifth wave is not limited to the coffee industry. Many other industries are acutely aware that today’s era requires improving the quality and enhancing the customer experience to maintain a competitive advantage.
These industries range from retail services to restaurants, hotels, exercise to technology. In the coffee industry, brands such as Blue Bottle, Bluestone Lane, Caravan, Department of Coffee, and many others, are examples of smart businesses that create new standards of quality and engagement with customers. Similarly, the Starbucks Reserve concept adds a new dimension to the customer experience in the largest coffee company in the world.
The definitions and characteristics of the companies in the fifth wave will be further detailed in the future. This is definitely just the beginning of the journey. Keep an eye on the big strides in the growth of coffee shops around the globe.