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seen many espresso machines and grinders until the end And, in fact, it truly did. After 2013, thanks to Yel-
of 1980s. Coffee, for different reasons, was a drink of low’s radical influence Kyiv saw a boom of new, “third
both intellectuals and working class. We’re still talking wave” coffee places. Now Ukraine has a growing number
about cezve or cupping-style coffee - espresso was of coffee roasters with their own vision and ideas. Every
mostly unknown. At the same time instant coffee became year we see more green coffees imported to Ukraine, that
very popular - still a headache for many modern baristas were unknown before. The community has changed too.
- and became a major part of Ukrainian coffee consump- There are at least one or two public cuppings happening
tion from 1990s and up to our days. Coffee market grew, in Kyiv every week. That means that the taste prefer-
but, sadly, thanks to the instant powders that made ences of community have changed across the last five
people more used to drinking not-that-tasty-coffee, and years - people began to care more about the flavours they
to drinking it in large volumes. feel. Some of those who would be okay with drinking a
simple americano on a random blend are now voting to
Break Through drink some pour-over specialty single-origin.

But then came espresso. Well, not actually espresso, There Is Another Story.
it was a thing that (due to too simple food safety and com-
merce laws) started around the beginning of 2000s - lots Getting a bit back down-to-earth, it probably won’t
of small trucks that had an espresso machine and a grinder matter how much we try to engage more people in the
in their backs. They had awful coffee - nothing better than coffee culture, a large number of Ukrainians still won’t
blends of 70/30 (arabica/robusta) that were imported from be okay with the price in most modern specialty coffee
Europe and were roasted “Italian style”. For those times it shops. They don’t see the value in the cup and are fine
was a breakthrough. People got to know espresso for the with random Robusta Americano you can find in some
first time. It was a bad espresso - but a true single shot made pop-up “espresso points”. The number of people with
with a machine. A sad thing of that time was that people these preferences is many times greater than of those
did with their coffees and some still do now: whipped who would better enjoy a “third wave” cappuccino. The
cream, plethora of toppings and syrups, making monstrous number of people who prefer drinking an instant coffee
drinks and it can be hardly called “coffee”. is even greater. Still, in general, around 80% of Ukraini-
Through that coffee became known as espresso, but ans drink coffee in any form at least once a day. Being a
there still were people who looked for something more. specialty coffee devotee is becoming harder now, despite
First Ukrainian coffee roasters began their craft around the the fact people drink more coffee in general. We face a
same time, beginning of 2000s. They began with roasting challenge of coffee chains with low coffee quality and
commercial blends that were popular back then - some low prices - they make people think that their drinks are
Brazilian Santos with some Indian Robusta, etc.. Later tasty only with a ton of sugar and flavorings. Specialty
roasters started experimenting and doing something that coffee shops struggle while the prices and volumes of
was unknown before: roasting single origin coffees, roast- coffee sold are incomparable. Another problem now is a
ing lighter, roasting better. The craft of roasting in Ukraine pretty harsh market environment - the rent for most
changed. places suitable for opening a coffee shop is high and it
So did the craft of making coffee. Even in 2012 is nearly impossible for a small independent coffee shop
there already were some coffee shops that still used entrepreneur to successfully maintain the business for
imported blends, but they also began using high- time longer than a year without outside investments.
quality equipment and training their baristas to make And chains take the places of closed coffee shops.
better coffee. Then colors also changed. Yellow, a But we keep going. I’ve seen three new coffee places
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small take-out coffee shop, was a 10 m place that with a third wave vision opening this month. As a part of
made something different. Andrii Choockovsky, world’s coffee community that we’re happy to be, we’re on
present SCA Ukraine Communication Coordinator, our way to make coffee better. Every coffee event brings
opened it as a place to radically change the Ukrai- more coffee maniacs together and that’s spectacular. Ukrai-
nian coffee culture. Many people went there and nians don’t only discuss their cafes, they also discuss about
many were surprised by how different their drinks other matters. We look for new inventions and try to use
were from what was on the market before. Without them, we gather new ideas and try to implement them in
knowing, Yellow became one of the first places in best way. We create new concepts that we’re going to use
Ukraine with a vision that we can call “modern” now. as presentations on our next Championships. We compete
Fresh light roasted specialty coffee, manual-brewing in the Championships. We prepare, struggle, cheer, lose,
methods, being open to experiments - this is how it win. We dream and work to make our dreams come true.
was. The coffee shop opened in 2013 and was suc- Ukraine is a country that has a long history and traditions
cessful until its very end, when it was closed in 2016, with coffee. Now we have the ability to make the history
as “a dream has already become a reality”. and create new traditions.

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