Part 3 of a 5-part series on the history and future of coffee, by 8th and Roast

Thanks to Starbucks it became possible to get an espresso and a steamed milk beverage in over 2,000 places in America by the year 2000. But they weren’t the only ones making big business with their beans… 

Massive companies started buying up entire lots of green coffee, unconcerned with origin, or if the coffee cherry was ripe before being harvested. Thus was born the modern coffee aisle in the supermarket, home to a plethora of what Tim Ferris, creator of “Bulletproof Coffee” and “The 4 Hour Work Week”, plainly refers to as “moldy” coffee. 

At home, everyone got into auto drip coffee machines. Instead of instant coffee, people put grounds in the auto drip and brewed a pot of coffee at home. 

Second wave supermarket roasts are generally harvested by machines. The beans go into a supply chain filled with unknown middlemen who may or may not be getting paid anything let alone a fair price, so to expect a really stellar product out of that type of situation doesn't make a whole lot of sense. 

It only makes sense that eventually there was a backlash…