3 Wave Coffee Club

3 Wave Coffee is a Coffee club founded by our dear friend, Denny and his business partner and friend, Norman. Denny is an American entrepreneur, based out of Tempa, Arizona and loves all things coffee. He spent the last year in China, with his wife April, developing 3 Wave Coffee. The 3WC is a coffee of the month club where each month every customer is provided with a months worth of high end 3rd Wave coffee. Sounds like my kind of club, right?! This is a fantastic deal for coffee lovers living in China, where it's difficult to find quality coffee!

While living in China Denny an April became some of our closest friends. Now that they've moved back to the States Denny is on a monthly mission to find the very best roasted coffee to be exported to China. Denny has found coffee that would convert even the non-coffee drinker, like coffees with hints of blueberry, tomato, fruits, and some that even resemble tea.

Each bag of 3WC coffee gives the taste description and roaster. Know any great roasters in your hometown? Let me know and I'll be sure to pass their info on to Denny to help in his hunt for the best roasters!

We were privelaged to attend 3 Wave Coffee's launch party at a local Resturant and bar in Qingdao. We had such a great time supporting this new business, watching the baristas carefully pour each hand dripped coffee, and of course, trying new roasts! *Check out April's highly professional and informational recap of the event. Really. Check it out. It's much better than mine. :)

Glimpses from  the launch.

At the event, 3WC provide free hand poured coffee and pastries. Hand poured coffee is fabulous! If you've never tried it I highly recommend you do! If you're not in a rush, hand poured coffee is a great treat and some coffee lovers even insist on having it daily. You know, as they say, "Once you go hand pour, you don't go back." Or something like that. ;) The hand pour style originates in Japan where it's enjoyed as more of a ceremony, similar to tea ceremonies.

For such high quality of coffee 3 Wave provides hand pour is the way to go to really enjoy & savor the flavors & complexity of each cup.

"The benefits of pour-over compared to other brewing tactics lie in the timing and control in the wrist. Infusing the ground coffee for the correct length of time with a controlled hand will produce a fuller, fruity taste, often accented with floral notes" -Samantha Reichman at CNN 
To find out more about hand poured coffee, like what the heck it is and how to do it, check here. :)

So, what is 3rd Way Coffee?

Third Wave Coffee is a movement where coffee producers seek to produce the highest-quality of coffee. The movement considers coffee as an "artisanal foodstuff, like wine, rather than a commodity." Third Wave Coffee is coffee that has been improved in all levels of production, from bean growth to micro roasting and brewing. To further explain, I'll let the highly factual ;) wikipedia do that for me, "Third Wave Coffee aspires to the highest form of culinary appreciation of coffee, so that one may appreciate subtleties of flavor, bean varietal, and growing region – similar to other complex culinary products such as wine, tea, and chocolate. Distinctive features of Third Wave Coffee include direct trade coffee, high-quality beans, single-origin coffee (as opposed to blends), lighter roasts of the beans, and latte art." via

i.e. Third Wave Coffee is just better. And awesome. :)

You know if your coffee provider has a tattoo, he's legit. ;)

April, his wife, is the cutest & such an amazing woman. She of course, photographed it all! You may remember April from her blog & 10,000 Smiles Project!

If you're in China and want to sign up for the 3 Wave Coffee Club you can do that here.