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Meet the Future Coffee: Atomo Molecular sans real beans

By on February 28, 2019

What if one day, you wake up to find out there isn’t enough supply of coffee beans in the world due to climate change?

Climate change is real. The rise in temperature, drought, increase in pests, and overall environmental conditions affect coffee production. According to estimates by the International Tropical Agriculture Center, the changing environmental conditions in about half of the land in coffee-growing regions, will affect supply in the next 30 years.

image by Atomo

Seattle startup Atomo’s CEO Andy Kleitsch, together with Chief Food Scientist Jarrett Stopforth and the rest of the team are tackling the challenge in a novel way with the use of Reverse Engineering. The team is trying to reproduce an existing product by deeply examining the construction or composition of coffee beans.  Atomo analyzed the components of real coffee beans and developed a bean-free concept called “Atomo Molecular Coffee” with the flavour of real coffee at a molecular level.

They first did a research on the compounds found in coffee and discovered that coffee contains 1,000 or more compounds, 40 of which play an important role in determining the taste of coffee. The same compounds are also found in raw plant materials. To reproduce the taste and color of coffee, they tweaked the acidity level and came up with coffee that’s  best consumed without cream or sugar.

Initially they were aiming to reproduce brewed coffee, but have also started to manufacture roasted coffee powder. “In order to create a genuine texture, we experimented with various raw materials such as melon seeds and sunflower seeds. Finally, the product looks like the real thing with the real taste of coffee brewed using a drip coffee machine,” says Atomo’s CEO.

At a tasting survey conducted at the University of Washington, students were asked to compare Starbucks to Atomo coffee.  70% of students said that Atomo is more delicious.  Currently,  Atomo is focusing on completing the manufacturing method as the final stage before going commercial.

“I was searching for my next new startup idea, and I had one requirement: it must be something that makes the world a better place,” Andy Kleitsch, CEO and co-founder of Atomo, told Digital Trends.

“We destroy the forest, pollute the environment with insecticides, work the workers like slaves, for coffee, there should be a better way,” Kleitsch said . The newly developed product does not require pesticides or deforestation. Using this technology, people’s food production as well as coffee may change fundamentally.

The promising product has attracted attention through Atomo’s crowdfunding platform on Kickstarter.

About Tammy Lee