This week, we’re doing things a little differently—we invited Mat
North to revisit his talk, “The Third Wave Has Stagnated”, in light of developments
that have happened since his presentation at Cup North: James Hoffmann’s
three-part post on the current state of specialty coffee, the release of the
WCR Lexicon and SCAA Flavour Wheel, and Nick Cho’s comment that “when sounding
smart is more important than being smart, we’re not in a lull, we’re in serious
In true podcast style, No. 48 stumbles into several other philosophically-heavy
topics (different ways of measuring success, career path expansion, prescribed
learning vs. rote learning) and is dotted with little glimmers of inadvertent
honesty. Also included: what it takes to put together the UKBC, competitor
trends from last week’s London heat, increased interest in the Brewer’s Cup,
and a new quick-fire round.