As we have noted numerous times on these pages, there are several serious issues facing the world of coffee. Deforestation, climate change, various coffee plant diseases will all threaten and possibly curtain coffee production in the coming years. Coffee producers are looking at solutions like cross breeding arabica and robusta coffees to produce hardier arabica strains as well as better tasting robusta. One of the responses to all of this is the development of “beanless coffee.” What is beanless coffee and will it have any material effect on coffee prices that people buy in order to enjoy their cup of java? For that matter how will it affect the taste and flavor or your morning brew?
Coffee That Is Not Really Coffee
The BBC recently published an article about startups promoting beanless coffee. They focused primarily on a new imitation of coffee, Atomo. This “alt-coffee” is an attempt to replicate the taste and aroma of coffee without actually using coffee beans. Their recipe includes date seeds marinated with the following list of ingredients. Ramón seeds, fructose, pea protein, millet, lemon, sunflower seed extract, guava, fenugreek seeds, baking soda and caffeine. The caffeine comes from decaffeination of green tea.
How Many Alt-Coffees Are There?
In addition to Atomo, companies seeking to make beanless coffee include Dutch-based Northern Wonder which uses malted barley, chicory, and chickpea along with “undisclosed” natural flavoring. Two other competitors in this market include Minus from San Francisco and Prefer from Singapore. Also in this niche but pursuing a different approach are folks making “bio-coffee” created from coffee plant cells and grown in a vat before being fermented and roasted. The Finnish government has sponsored research in this regard. Folks working toward this goal include Cultured from California, Another from Singapore, and Foodbrewer from Switzerland. While this approach may lead to beanless coffee that is a better match to your natural brew, this approach will require regulatory approval not needed by folks who are just mixing natural plant ingredients.
Date Seeds for Making Beanless Coffee
Courtesy of Research Gate
What Is the Point of Beanless Coffee?
Currently a beanless coffee like Atomo costs more than a regular cup of coffee. So, why beanless when your Colombian arabica coffee is better and cheaper? The first selling point you see in this regard is that the six greatest causes of deforestation is coffee cultivation. This problem is expected to get worse as climate change drives coffee production to higher altitudes and lower altitudes can no longer support coffee farms. As Asian countries which generally have preferred tea pivot to coffee this will also increase global demand at the same time as production is threatened. Thus, beanless coffee producers argue that their products are less environmentally damaging and eventually may be cheaper.
Downsides to Beanless Coffee
A lot of people work on coffee farms throughout the tropics. If these folks get displaced because of a big surge in beanless coffee that will mean a lot of unemployment and hardship. Alternatively, it could lead to these folks using their land for growing other, more profitable, crops like cocaine! Cocaine cartels will not be worried about deforestation.
What Is the Status of Beanless Coffee?
Aromo, the focus of the BBC article, is sold at seventy coffee shops in the USA. They also sell beanless coffee as well as conventional coffees on their website. Thus these folks do not have a huge share of the market and the vat-brewed variety is a long way from becoming an economic threat to coffee producers in Brazil, Vietnam, Colombia, Honduras, Ethiopia or back in Java itself. And, of course, these products have a huge way to go to compete on taste and aroma with your favorite gourmet coffee from Colombia.