This week, a Seattle-based firm working with some of the same investors as Beyond Meat will introduce the first beanless coffee in an effort to lessen the popular beverage’s environmental effect.

Investors have spent $51.6 million into Atomo Coffee in the hopes that the company’s brew, which employs superfoods and recycled components to mimic the molecular structure of coffee, will be a hit with customers, will garner interest from consumers.

Coffee farms, particularly those cultivating the more delicate arabica variety favoured by baristas, are going uphill and destroying forests along the way in pursuit of calmer climates as the world’s temperature warms.

The burning of fossil fuels is the primary driver of climate change, but deforestation is a close second. According to studies, climate change may render around half of the area currently used for coffee production unusable by 2050.

“Coffee is causing deforestation at a pretty alarming rate – almost up to ten (New York) Central Parks a day,” said Atomo’s CEO and co-founder Andy Kleitsch ahead of the firm’s beanless coffee launch at the New York Coffee Festival on Friday.

“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,” he said.

According to Atomo, its original “proof-of-concept” cold brew beanless coffee used 94% less water and produced 93% less carbon emissions than ordinary coffee. It was ranked among the top 200 inventions of 2022 by Time Magazine.

The company anticipates comparable results for their new hot beanless coffee, which is likewise created primarily from recycled materials like date pips, which are frequently thrown during commercial production.

Since its roasted coffee will be sold at a wholesale price of $20.99 per lb as opposed to the $10–14 per lb that the typical U.S. coffee shop pays, Atomo is first focusing on coffee shops as opposed to retailers and supermarket chains.

Some meat substitute producers have struggled in more recent times as consumers cut back on their frequency of purchasing more expensive products due to inflation, following an initial period of tremendous growth.

Atomo claims that it is currently in discussions with the majority of the top coffee companies in the world on how to expand and supply them.

“They (coffee majors) all know they have a problem with coffee availability in next 20-30 years, and they’re trying to get ahead of the problem,” said Kleitsch.

(Adapted from Independent.ie)

Categories: Economy & Finance, Entrepreneurship, Strategy, Sustainability, Uncategorized