Eco-friendly, Lab-grown Coffee is On the Way, But It Comes With a Catch (theguardian.com) 67
Beanless brews can cut deforestation and greenhouse gas emissions dramatically -- but what will happen to workers in traditional coffee-growing regions? From a report: Heiko Rischer isn't quite sure how to describe the taste of lab-grown coffee. This summer he sampled one of the first batches in the world produced from cell cultures rather than coffee beans. "To describe it is difficult but, for me, it was in between a coffee and a black tea," said Rischer, head of plant biotechnology at the VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, which developed the coffee. "It depends really on the roasting grade, and this was a bit of a lighter roast, so it had a little bit more of a tea-like sensation." Rischer couldn't swallow the coffee, as this cellular agriculture innovation is not yet approved for public consumption. Instead, he swirled the liquid around in his mouth and spit it out. He predicts that VTT's lab-grown coffee could get regulatory approval in Europe and the US in about four years' time, paving the way for a commercialized product that could have a much lower climate impact than conventional coffee.
The coffee industry is both a contributor to the climate crisis and very vulnerable to its effects. Rising demand for coffee has been linked to deforestation in developing nations, damaging biodiversity and releasing carbon emissions. At the same time, coffee producers are struggling with the impacts of more extreme weather, from frosts to droughts. It's estimated that half of the land used to grow coffee could be unproductive by 2050 due to the climate crisis. In response to the industry's challenges, companies and scientists are trying to develop and commercialize coffee made without coffee beans. VTT's coffee is grown by floating cell cultures in bioreactors filled with a nutrient. The process requires no pesticides and has a much lower water footprint, said Rischer, and because the coffee can be produced in local markets, it cuts transport emissions. The company is working on a life cycle analysis of the process. "Once we have those figures, we will be able to show that the environmental impact will be much lower than what we have with conventional cultivation," Rischer said.
The coffee industry is both a contributor to the climate crisis and very vulnerable to its effects. Rising demand for coffee has been linked to deforestation in developing nations, damaging biodiversity and releasing carbon emissions. At the same time, coffee producers are struggling with the impacts of more extreme weather, from frosts to droughts. It's estimated that half of the land used to grow coffee could be unproductive by 2050 due to the climate crisis. In response to the industry's challenges, companies and scientists are trying to develop and commercialize coffee made without coffee beans. VTT's coffee is grown by floating cell cultures in bioreactors filled with a nutrient. The process requires no pesticides and has a much lower water footprint, said Rischer, and because the coffee can be produced in local markets, it cuts transport emissions. The company is working on a life cycle analysis of the process. "Once we have those figures, we will be able to show that the environmental impact will be much lower than what we have with conventional cultivation," Rischer said.
The catch - it tastes bad. (Score:3)
Re:The catch - it tastes bad. (Score:5, Insightful)
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I'll pay the bit extra.
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Sounds like something from a Sirius Cybernetics Nutrimatic vending machine - coffee that's almost entirely unlike coffee. The logical alternative to their line of teas.
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I enjoyed this philosophical bit: "What kind of world is this when you worry that people might be ripping you off by selling you coffee that was NOT pooped out by a weasel?"
Re:The catch - it tastes bad. (Score:5, Interesting)
93 Escort Wagon snorted:
Yeah, "in between a coffee and a black tea" is NOT coffee.
Actually, it is.
Very few Americans have ever experienced coffee made from lightly-roasted beans. It produces a brew that has hardly any flavor - but that kicks like a mule. (The darker the roast, the less caffeine in the coffee beans. Dark roasts produce a very flavorful cup of coffee with very little caffeine in it. French roasts make coffee that tastes burnt - because French-roasted beans ARE, quite literally, burnt - and that has almost no caffeine in it.)
I prefer a medium-dark roast, which offers what I think is the optimal trade-off between rich, coffee flavor and stimulant effect. And I drink it black, because I actually like coffee ...
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Very few Americans have ever experienced coffee made from lightly-roasted beans. It produces a brew that has hardly any flavor - but that kicks like a mule .... French-roasted beans ARE, quite literally, burnt - and that has almost no caffeine in it
I didn't know that, but I've experienced it - 'morning' coffees are typically very light. Very interesting. I drink coffee, but I prefer caffeine in a pill form, chased down with something that doesn't taste like ass.
Then there's Nitro Cold Brew. That blurs the line between a beverage and a medication.
Coffee tastes bad... (Score:2, Insightful)
Coffee tastes bad in general.
I know you Starbucks people disagree ...
But for the next generation, "tastes bad" will be different.
For example, If you grow up with the various flavored, non-sweetened flavored water, you would never consider drinking the various aspertame,steevia,... flavored drinks. But for the old people that grew up on the "Diet" they actually like it, and may likely think flavored water tastes bad.
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At least it's not eaten and pooped out [wikipedia.org] by a civet.
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Austin Powers
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Sounds ideal for Starbucks.
It's too inconvenient (Score:1)
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I feel the same way about my meat coming from real dead animals.
I feel the same about my motorcycle, and older muscle cars (its fun to drive 10gal per mile).
I feel the same way cooking on my gas stove top (the ONLY way to cook).
I feel the same way about firing up my charcoal grills and my wood burning smokers for BBQ.
Soylent Green here we come... (Score:2)
Re:Soylent Green here we come... (Score:5, Funny)
composition? (Score:4, Insightful)
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If you believe coffee production is having a real impact on the world (deforestation, etc.), then there is indeed a problem for this solution. And it would work on a space colony.
Swish around in your mouth? (Score:3)
What is this? A wine tasting for dummies?
As far as I know, swishing something in your mouth that isn't approved for consumption is consumption.
If you don't believe me, try swishing some Clorox. (really don't do that)
Now if they could maybe do some Lab-Growing on Red "Delicious" apples, or Cavendish bananas so they actually tasted good....
Perfect Accompaniment (Score:1)
Sounds like you could have an awesome meal going with your UN approved cricket-meat, and a nice cup of this Coffee-Light (maybe you could call it a cuppa Josephine).
Maybe he's related to Arthur Dent (Score:5, Insightful)
Heiko Rischer isn't quite sure how to describe the taste of lab-grown coffee. ... ...
"To describe it is difficult but, for me, it was in between a coffee and a black tea,"
Lab-grown coffee ... a drink almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea.
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I'll have you know that ATS [fandom.com] is a perfectly good beverage.
What would the farmers do then ? (Score:2)
solution to farmers' plight blindingly obvious (Score:2)
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until we get hydroponicly grown coca
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If this product were to become mainstream,
would that mean that many farmers would have no more work ?
Not sure what is best.
Isn't there a way to cultivate coffee in a field in a sustainable manner and create employment ?
If you read the summary you will discover that one of the issues with coffee production is that it is causing deforestation. The reason for that is that coffee production is expanding rapidly. The last ten years the production has increased by 50%. And it is still increasing. So, no need to worry about a technology which in the most optimistic case may slowly take market share from traditional coffee farming.
Workers (Score:1)
what will happen to workers in traditional coffee-growing regions?
Adaptation will happen.
Who is this targeted at? (Score:2)
Who is this targeted at? Your typical coffee consumer isn't going to switch to this unless it tastes better than what they are currently drinking, at a comparable cost. The existing coffee growers aren't going to just stop growing coffee.
They will certainly be able to attract some consumers if the coffee comes in some special cup they can virtue signal with, but that won't be enough to really make it worthwhile. Perhaps the real goal is government regulation mandating that field grown coffee growers must
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Who is this targeted at? Your typical coffee consumer isn't going to switch to this unless it tastes better than what they are currently drinking, at a comparable cost. The existing coffee growers aren't going to just stop growing coffee.
They might not have a choice. "comparable cost" is the key phrase here. Coffee is a fragile crop that must live within a particular elevation range to get the right combination of sunlight, temperature, and rainfall in most of the places where it is grown. Changes in seasonal rainfall and temperature are already driving the coffee belt to higher elevations, which means less arable land. If the trend continues coffee could get a lot more expensive, meaning that consumers might decide it is worth it to dri
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Maybe at people like me who don't like coffee?
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Maybe at people like me who don't like coffee?
Here's an ad proposal
Do you hate coffee? Do you want to join in at work coffee breaks but you are afraid of global warming and an upset stomach?
Well fear no more! Try new "Syncoffee", the new eco friendly synthetic coffee drink that doesn't taste like coffee, is easy on your stomach, and saves the planet too!"
Don't wait! If you sign up for a $99 monthly subscription for Syncoffee eco-k-cups you get this cool "Syncoffee" mug that keeps your beverage hot while showing everyone around you what a cool eco war
Why even bother (Score:2)
If, to "save the planet", we have to consume only lab-vat swill, AI-generated entertainment,
and interact exclusively by teledildonic facehugger, why fucking bother?
But really, they only push this crap on us because it's far more profitable.
Ever notice they never say "and it's going to be less expensive"?
Brown, liquid stimulant (Score:2)
If people accept this lab-grown coffee, it'll be an admission that we primarily like coffee for one reason: the stimulant in it.
We're talking liquid NoDoze, Adderall, etc. - whatever you want to call it.
Hard pass (Score:1)
This will be an excuse to make more money. This will be cheaper to produce, but the cost of a cup of coffee will not go down.
Taste right now is an issue which they will fix, but what do they add to it to make it palatable?
No, just no.
Won't do (Score:2)
Real hipsters drink only the stuff that come out the ass of a cat.
What a load of hooey (Score:1)
Rischer couldn't swallow the coffee, as this cellular agriculture innovation is not yet approved for public consumption.
Bullshit. If the inventor didn't want to swallow it, it's because there is something wrong with it. You don't need government approval to be your own guinea pig.
Terrible, awful idea (Score:2)
Really, really bad
It's hard to imagine why anyone would think it's good
Yeah - it tastes like coffee (Score:2)
Blagh
If you don't care I guess OK (Score:2, Insightful)
Eco-friendly? (Score:4, Informative)
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It's great that coffee can grow pretty eco-friendly in Nicaragua. It's not so great when, in California, we drain a lake that's been there throughout much of history [wikipedia.org], turn it into Coffee farmland [civileats.com], and force the land against its will to grow what it wasn't designed to, all because some rich American's willing to pay $60 a pound for it. [npr.org]
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'crap coffee', like 'soy milk' or 'almond milk'
We love to call things what they are not.
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This is utterly ridiculous (Score:3)
Instead, he swirled the liquid around in his mouth and spit it out.
Just like it deserves. The idea that we can somehow "bio-engineer" a better, healthier, and sustainable faux-coffee solution is just ridiculous. Instead, we can encourage people to drink instant coffee instead. It's cheaper than real coffee, more efficient to transport, and therefore better on the environment. (It's very similar to drinking concentrated OJ instead of fresh-squeezed, but without the whole addition of a chemical concoction of perfumes and flavor additives [newyorker.com], but I digress.), And before anybody tells me that it tastes terrible, just open a fresh container of Nescafe instant coffee and smell it. It smells just like the real thing, because it is, minus the water. It's an environmental waste to ship the water when we have plenty of it straight from the tap.
(The only problem with instant coffee is that, once exposed to air, its pleasant aromas begin to break down due to oxidation. So, either get the instant packets, or get the smallest container you prefer.)
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It smells just like the real thing, because it is, minus the water.
Well, since it doesn't taste like the real thing to me, I reject the product entirely based on a qualia argument.
So THIS was the article they were reading (Score:2)
And the catch is.... (Score:2)
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Norman Borlaug's segregated agriculture is death (Score:3)
Coffee is super duper low impact when grown traditionally, which is to say beneath the existing canopy and mixed in with other plants. It's when you make coffee plantations which produce inferior coffee anyway that the impact is a problem.
In fact, before the green revolution it was common to interplant different crops, but we switched to producing monocultures in order to enable the use of machine cultivation so that we could boost productivity. But the end result of this is ecological devastation.
The green revolution has been a failure on all levels; it has not even reduced the number of starving people, only perhaps caused their numbers to swell more slowly. But it is literally destroying our civilizations.
NO (Score:1)
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Won't somebody think of the Twinkie [wikipedia.org]!
Easy fix (Score:2)
Coffee is a drug. Drugs are illegal. Make coffee illegal.
The end.
Another item against developing countries (Score:1)