Third wave coffee is popping up everywhere. Haven't yet heard of third wave coffee? In case you're not familiar with it, third wave coffee refers to the movement of producing high-quality, artisanal coffee. The trend, it seems, has really boomed. Specialty coffee represents 37 percent of U.S. coffee cups and makes up nearly 50 percent value share of $30-$32 billion retail value of the U.S. coffee market.