I’m sure you clicked on this article thinking, huh? After all, "synthetic coffee" isn’t something we hear very often, even the industry buffs among us.
I’m sure you clicked on this article thinking, huh? After all, “synthetic coffee” isn’t something we hear very often, even the industry buffs among us.
To be honest, I had never heard the term myself until recently. So, I decided to do some investigating. What is synthetic coffee? Are there different kinds? And what’s the point, anyway?
There’s a lot to discuss here, so let’s dig in.
Overview: What Is Synthetic Coffee?
First, a disclaimer: it seems that the term “synthetic coffee” is a misnomer. Not to mention that it doesn’t have very good marketing appeal! I mean, who’s going to buy a food product that sounds like it’s a cousin of polyester and other synthetic plastic-based fibers?
Well, I suppose at the very least the name “synthetic coffee” makes for great clickbait. But rest assured: this is not some plastic-coffee hybrid, as the name suggests. Rather, synthetic coffee is a coffee alternative that’s made out of all natural materials and food products.
But here’s the caveat: so-called synthetic coffee is lab-grown with bioengineering. In some cases, it is similar to coffee on a molecular and chemical level.
In other words, synthetic coffee is coffee made without coffee.
Does all this give you the heebie-jeebies? If so, you can just skip the hassle and expense and brew up some chicory coffee instead. But if your interest is piqued, follow along as I keep exploring.
Synthetic Coffee: What’s the Point?
I know what you’re thinking: “Um, no thanks!” And I admit that I agree – I’d rather drink my regular bean juice over lab-grown beanless juice any day. That said, the synthetic coffee people have something to say about that.
According to Atomo and Compound Foods, two of the most prominent beanless coffee manufacturers, synthetic coffee is a response to a threatened coffee industry in the era of climate change.
Due to supply chain and numerous sustainability issues, the future of coffee isn’t looking so bright. Meanwhile, the global demand for coffee only continues to increase.
Consequently, proponents of synthetic coffee claim that lab-grown approximations of the real deal are a good alternative. Importantly, these are not meant to replace the coffee industry – beanless coffee is just an additional option.
What’s more, synthetic coffee supposedly has tons of ecological and sustainability benefits. Depending on the brand, synthetic coffee can involve upcycling food waste, decreased deforestation, decreased transportation-related emissions and decreased water usage.
How Is Synthetic Coffee Made?
I’ll be honest: I wear many hats, but “bioengineer” is not one of them. So, the descriptions about how beanless coffee is made tend to go over my head. Still, I think what I have to report should satisfy most coffee drinkers.
How synthetic coffee is made depends on who the manufacturer is. And since this is a very new (and financially fruitful) market, the exact recipes and processes are pretty hush-hush. That said, it seems that two of the big names, Atomo and Compound Foods, do things in a pretty similar way.
Both companies extract specific molecules from different food ingredients to create a product that is similar to real coffee beans on a molecular level. For Atomo, this means pulling the good stuff from upcycled date pits, lemon peel, ramon seeds and other natural products.
Similarly, Compound Foods seeks out the flavor compounds and characteristics of actual coffee from other food sources. Notably, this brand utilizes fermentation to achieve some of these flavor compounds.
In either case, the final product is roasted before being ground into powder and packaged for sale. By all accounts, ground synthetic coffee looks just like regular coffee. It’s just more processed and, consequently, more expensive than the real thing.
For a different take on synthetic coffee, let’s direct our attention to Scandinavia. The VTT Technical Research Centre in Finland harvests coffee leaves from actual plants, then cultures them in a lab to grow more cells.
Incidentally, it seems that these leaves just stay leaves, and never grow to produce cherries or coffee beans. That said, as I mentioned this burgeoning high-tech industry tends to keep quiet about bioengineering methods, so it’s not clear what exactly goes on in the VTT lab.
Either way, the final product is turned into a powder and roasted.
What Does Synthetic Coffee Taste Like?
Needless to say, this lab-grown brew isn’t going to taste quite as delicious as the real deal. Though it’s intended to imitate the flavors of actual coffee – and in fact is chemically engineered to do so – nothing can replace a stunning terroir and the expertise of a coffee farmer.
Still, the food scientists that produce synthetic coffee know a thing or two about what they’re doing. So, you can expect beanless brews to have generic coffee flavors like nuts, chocolate and dried fruit. Naturally, you’ll also get some roasty flavors from the roasting process.
Interestingly, synthetic coffee tends to have lower acidity and less bitterness than real coffee.
The lucky few who have been able to try it are supposedly satisfied with this flavor profile. However, I don’t know how many coffee professionals have been invited into the tasting process.
Like I said, any flavors that come through are going to be pretty generic and unexciting. And honestly, that’s fine by me. I don’t look forward to a future in which science labs can reproduce the joys of high scoring specialty coffee.
How to Buy Synthetic Coffee
Since this is such a new market, synthetic coffee is very hard to find. What’s more, you’re likely to only find it in a pre-ground format. I bet the food scientists don’t want you to see what the lab-developed “whole bean” looks like! Anyway, so far the pre-ground stuff is only available in the United States.
Incidentally, Compound Foods is often sold out of its product. As far as Atomo goes, the brand currently only sells beanless espresso grounds to wholesale accounts in US metro areas. However, on Atomo’s website you can buy beanless blends, which are 50% Arabica coffee and 50% beanless coffee. As always, this coffee is ground for drip coffee makers.
When it comes to the leaf-grown coffee from Finland-based VTT Technical Research Centre, that product isn’t yet available to consumers.
Again, at this point synthetic or beanless coffee is very expensive, since it’s very processed and doesn’t have enough demand to balance the prices. That could change in the future, but only if the beanless brands can convince some more early customers to like the product.
Final Thoughts on Synthetic Coffee
I hope you’ve enjoyed this curious exploration into the world of synthetic coffee. For my part, I’m not sold on the concept, but I’m definitely curious.
With that said, I think we should drop the word “synthetic” from the market. Not only is it clickbait and a bit inaccurate, but the synthetic coffee brands themselves don’t use the term. Rather, they refer to their products as “beanless coffee” or “molecular coffee.”
However, my biggest qualm with the synthetic coffee world is how much money it makes. I mean, millions of dollars have been invested into these start-ups – why not invest that money into coffee farmers instead? Especially in our quest for a sustainable coffee industry, we need to be sure that we aren’t leaving coffee farmers behind.
Finally, while I researched this article I found myself wondering, why don’t we reduce our coffee consumption instead of spending millions to produce fake coffee? Why don’t we turn to coffee alternatives that are naturally occurring, like chicory or barley? These agricultural products support farmers and don’t need to be produced in labs with millionaire investors.
So yeah, I’m skeptical of the whole deal. I’ll stick to my real coffee, thank you very much!
What are your thoughts on so-called synthetic coffee? Let’s keep the ball rolling in the comments section!
What Is Synthetic Coffee FAQ
Supporters of bioengineered coffee alternatives claim that these beanless brews are better for the environment than actual coffee beans.
No, Nescafe coffee is 100% coffee.
Both “synthetic” and “artificial” coffee are actually just coffee alternatives made out of different plants or plant compounds.
