The Fourth Wave of Coffee — And Why the Bean Still Decides Everything

Nestlé just announced what they're calling the 'fourth wave of coffee'. Cold, convenient, customisable, crafted. The four Cs. It's a sharp piece of trend-watching — and they're right that something real is happening in how we drink coffee at home.

But there's something missing from their framing. Something that was missing from the first wave, the second wave, and the third wave too. The bean.

Every trend in coffee — every cold foam innovation, every customisable order, every at-home barista setup — sits on top of a foundation that either holds or doesn't. That foundation is what was grown, where it was grown, and who grew it.

What the fourth wave actually is

Nestlé's president of coffee told industry analysts this month that 70% of coffee orders are now cold versus hot, and that Gen Z is driving a new era of at-home coffee culture defined by customisation and texture. They're not wrong. Walk into any coffee shop right now and the cold bar is longer than the hot one.

This matters for home brewers. The equipment is getting better, cheaper, and more capable. Machines that once cost $6,000 now cost under $1,500. Cold brew setups that once required a café kitchen now fit on a counter. The average person at home is brewing better coffee than a professional café could have produced ten years ago.

"The fourth wave allows so many multiple expressions of coffee." The question is: what are you expressing if the bean underneath is mediocre?

Here's where it gets interesting for anyone who cares about quality. All of that equipment precision — the pressure profiling, the temperature control, the cold extraction — only reveals what's already in the bean. A great setup with a poor bean produces a great-tasting mediocre cup. A great setup with an exceptional bean produces something you remember.

Why African beans are the fourth wave's best-kept secret

The fourth wave is driven by customisation and flavour exploration. Younger drinkers are trying new beverages monthly, building flavour vocabulary, and expecting their coffee to be as interesting as anything else they consume.

African coffee is the answer to that expectation. Ethiopia's heirloom varieties carry natural bergamot and jasmine notes that no amount of flavoured syrup can replicate. Uganda's high-altitude arabicas have a berry-bright clarity that transforms cold brew into something you'd order twice. The DRC's volcanic-soil coffees bring a caramel depth that cold extraction draws out beautifully.

These aren't add-ons to the fourth wave. They're the raw material it runs on.

Meet Ngoma — Uganda's most underrated cup

Our Ngoma from Uganda is one of the clearest examples of what we mean. Grown in Uganda's high-altitude regions, it carries tasting notes of berries and caramel — a combination that makes it outstanding as a cold brew and quietly extraordinary as a pour-over.

Uganda doesn't get the credit it deserves in the specialty coffee world. The focus tends to fall on Ethiopia or Kenya. But the high-altitude arabicas coming out of Uganda's growing regions are producing cups that compete with any origin on the planet — and the farmers who grow them are among the most skilled in the supply chain.

At Joro, Ngoma is Living Wage Verified. That means the farmers who grew your cold brew's foundation were paid fairly — not because it's good marketing, but because it's the right way to source.

The fourth wave question nobody's asking

Nestlé and the other big players are right that the fourth wave is here. Cold, convenient, customisable, crafted. But there's a fifth C they haven't mentioned: conscientious.

The same consumers driving cold brew innovation are also the ones reading ingredient labels, asking where their food comes from, and choosing brands that align with their values. The fourth wave of coffee will be won by brands and beans that can answer the question: who grew this, and how were they treated?

We built Joro to answer that question cleanly. Every origin, every bag, every morning cup.