Today there is faux meat, dairy and now a caffeinated “Beanless Brew” that mimics real coffee. Atomos, a Seattle-based startup‘s coffee is made from 28 natural and upcycled plant ingredients that tastes like the real cup of Joe without the environmental impact, according to the company’s website.
The sustainable brew is so good that it was selected as one of the most innovative beverages in 2022 by TIME, according to a press release from the startup. This category was part of the magazine’s list of 200 extraordinary groundbreaking innovations of the year.
The brew was described by TIME as a shockingly close coffee substitute that uses less carbon emissions and water than conventional coffee.
While there are coffee alternatives like mushroom or chicory coffee, Atomo is making a coffee replacement that has the same molecular structure and taste as real coffee This is very good news because the future of coffee is uncertain.
The environmental impact of growing coffee
As the world is getting hotter, the areas that supported growing coffee are becoming unusable for farming, reported EuroNews. Coffee farms have had to move uphill where it is cooler. This necessitated clearing forests for farms and deforestation is the second leading cause of global warming and climate change, only burning fossil fuels is higher.
“Coffee is causing deforestation at a pretty alarming rate - almost up to 10 [New York] Central Parks a day,” Atomo's CEO and co-founder Andy Kleitsch told reporters at a press conference ahead of the beanless coffee launch. “We're talking about a machine, a coffee machine that's never stopping, always looking for more land, and that's what we're trying to prevent.”
But moving to higher altitudes may not be enough to produce all the coffee that the world consumes. In fact, Americans drink 3.3 billion pounds of coffee a year a year according to Coffee Affection.
By 2050, EuroNews reported, If the climate keeps getting warmer, 50 percent of the land currently in use to grow coffee will be unproductive.
Where does beanless coffee factor in?
Atomo’s first product, a cold brew product caused 93 percent fewer carbon emissions and used 94 percent water than conventional coffee. The firm expects to see the same amount of savings in its newest product, a hot beanless coffee.
The company is marketing the new hot brew to coffee shops and cafes, as opposed to supermarkets, as a roasted coffee product. At this time, the cost of the `coffee is almost double the price of conventional coffee,
The company is in talks with major coffee firms on how production can be scaled up to make it more price competitive and available to a wider clientele. You could soon be drinking this new beanless coffee at a cafe near you.
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