Coffee without coffee beans?
Coffee production is threatened by climate change. Because our beloved cup of coffee is indispensable, the food tech experts and designers at coffee company Atomo have come up with the solution. Coffee without coffee beans—but how?
More and more coffee varieties are disappearing. Sixty percent of all coffee bean varieties worldwide could be extinct within fifty years as a result of population growth, climate change and various other factors. This environmentally friendly coffee could therefore well become our new addiction.
It actually contains caffeine
The designer examined the aroma, taste and mouthfeel of regular coffee and has therefore (according to himself) developed even better coffee, which would also be better for the environment. The coffee looks exactly like our normal cup of comfort; it contains caffeine to keep you awake. The inventor makes the fake coffee beans from recycled plant-based materials, but keeps the rest of the ingredients a secret, much to our great irritation.
Blind test
The lookalike ground coffee will be available as filter coffee from the end of this year. Not yet in the Netherlands, but in the United States. On Kickstarter, people are already asking for an espresso and decaf version. The coffee has now also been approved at the University of Washington: during a blind test, seventy percent of participants preferred Atomo over regular coffee. It is not yet known when or whether the coffee will come to the Netherlands.
