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Starbucks of Japan develops new technology to raise cattle with coffee grounds to produce milk organic food.

Published: 2026-07-13 Author: World Gafei

Last Updated: 2026/07/13, According to a report in the Taiwan Xing Bao on May 25, Starbucks in Japan has developed the latest fermentation technology, using coffee grounds to raise cattle and produce milk. Starbucks in Japan recently partnered with contact lens company Menicon to successfully develop the latest lactic acid fermentation technology to convert coffee grounds into dairy feed. The quality of its milk is excellent, which makes it very popular with Starbucks in Japan.

According to a report in the Taiwan Xing Bao on May 25, Starbucks in Japan has developed the latest fermentation technology, using coffee grounds to raise cattle and produce milk. Starbucks in Japan recently partnered with contact lens company Menicon to successfully develop the latest lactic acid fermentation technology to convert coffee grounds into dairy feed. The quality of the milk produced is so good that it has become a popular addition to Starbucks in Japan.

Coffee is the most traded agricultural product in the world. According to the International Coffee Organization, 9.34 million packets of coffee beans circulated internationally between 2009 and 2010 alone, and most of the roasted and soaked coffee grounds are discarded, buried, composted or burned. In order to solve the problem of waste of resources, Starbucks partnered with Japanese contact lens company Menicon to develop new technology so that coffee grounds can no longer be just waste, but can be recycled and become feed for dairy cattle.

According to the report, the fermentation technology that Menicon was originally experimenting with was to find out new uses of rice stalks, but the lactic acid fermentation technology it developed could improve the nutritional value of coffee grounds and could also be fed to cattle, giving full play to the nutrients of coffee grounds rather than directly discarding them or using them as mixed fertilizers.

According to the Guardian, Hehe, a professor at the School of Veterinary Medicine at Mabu University, said that somatic cells in milk are an important indicator of milk quality. The lower the quantity of somatic cells, the better the quality, and it is more suitable to be used as yogurt, cheese and other by-products than high somatic milk. The milk somatic cell number of dairy cows fed with coffee grounds is indeed lower than that of ordinary dairy cows.

But Starbucks is also faced with how to collect coffee grounds collected from 1,000 Starbucks stores in Japan in the shortest possible time. Therefore, they add special storage areas to the container trucks of refrigerated products, so that there is no need to send additional vehicles to transport coffee grounds while taking into account hygiene and efficiency, so there will be no additional carbon emissions. The recycling center will first centralize the coffee grounds from each branch to enhance the nutritional value of coffee grounds with the latest lactic acid fermentation technology.

A spokesman for Starbucks in Japan said customers responded positively when they tried milk from cows raised on coffee grounds. Therefore, Starbucks also uses the fermented coffee grounds as organic fertilizer and becomes a delicious dish on the customer's table.

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