Putting its $45 million in funding to good use. "You've heard it before: the three waves of coffee," says Todd Carmichael, the founder of coffee chain and industry leader La Colombe. He's referencing the major shifts in coffee culture. First, it was an everyman beverage. Next came the proliferation of coffee shops specializing in drinks like lattes and cappuccinos. Finally, the third wave was marked by operators who treated coffee, and the actual beans, as proper ingredients instead of commodities, and specialized in harvesting, direct-trade sourcing, and micro-roasting. Now, Carmichael says, another major change is about to happen: "The third wave wasn't as big as No. 1 or No. 2 because it...
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