What's the difference between artificial coffee and molecular coffee Finnish scientists have developed a new type of sustainable coffee

Finnish scientists have developed environmentally friendly "sustainable coffee" in the laboratory through a new technology, according to a number of media reports.

Finnish scientist Heiko Rischer demonstrated the "sustainable" coffee plant cells in a petri dish at the Finnish Science and Technology Research Centre (VTT) laboratory in Espoo. The Finnish coffee does not come from ground beans, but grows from coffee plant cells in a bioreactor under tightly controlled temperature, light and oxygen, Agence France-Presse reported yesterday.

In response, Finnish scientists showed a plate of brown powder to Agence France-Presse and pointed out that "this is really coffee because the product contains only coffee ingredients."

The Finnish team is currently conducting a more comprehensive analysis of the sustainability of large-scale production of artificial coffee, but because of the lack of labor and resources required in the research and development process of "artificial coffee", artificial coffee will come less than traditional coffee. Finnish scientist and sensory perception expert Heikki Aisala pointed out that the success or failure of "artificial coffee" depends on the taste of coffee. Compared with ordinary coffee, "artificial coffee" has slightly lower caffeine content, bitterness and fruit aroma.

Auspicious Xue estimates that it will take at least four years for the "artificial coffee" to be approved by regulators and sold on the shelf. Earlier, when Finnish scientists used the principle of "cell agriculture" to cultivate the first "artificial coffee" in the laboratory, Finnish leader Heiko Rischer said: this artificial coffee is Arabica coffee.

Arabica coffee cultivated with small fruit coffee leaves

The aroma and taste of the coffee brewed from plant cells in VTT laboratory in Finland is no different from that of ordinary Arabica coffee, and it perfectly avoids the environmental problems of the extension of large-scale production of traditional coffee.

In fact, in addition to the Finnish team developing alternatives to traditional coffee, Seattle startup Atomo Coffee also developed a "molecular coffee without beans" in 2019, which attracted a lot of attention from the food industry.

"Molecular coffee" is a kind of coffee that contains caffeine but does not need any coffee beans, and has the same flavor as ordinary coffee, but "molecular coffee" comes from organic materials other than coffee plants.

It is understood that "molecular coffee" is a beverage formed after analyzing the composition of real coffee and then using various chemical molecules to recombine the aroma, taste, color, taste and caffeine of coffee. Finally, this kind of coffee is named "Atomo Coffee".

Andy Kleitsch and Jarret Stopforth, the founders of Atomo Coffee, say the driving force behind the brand is to provide consumers with another option of sustainable value.

Andy (left) and Jarret (right) are tasting coffee

With regard to the emergence of "sustainable artificial coffee", some people in the industry have pointed out that although artificial coffee has environmental benefits, the popularity of laboratory artificial coffee products may affect the livelihood of traditional coffee producers.

Coffee is a kind of crop, and its yield is faced with many uncertainties in the process of planting, including the impact of climate, etc., so what kind of experience will the arrival of "artificial coffee" give consumers in the future? * Photo Source: Agence France-Presse website for more information on coffee beans, please follow the coffee workshop (Wechat official account cafe_style) professional coffee knowledge exchange, please add Wechat account kaixinguoguo0925