Can lab-made coffee pass the taste test?

Many farmers throughout the world's coffee-growing belt are experiencing negative effects from climate change which is an acute concern for the multibillion dollar coffee industry.

The high demand of coffee also means more acreage is required to produce enough coffee beans, leading to deforestation.

Scientists at the VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland may have come up with a more sustainable alternative to producing coffee.

VTT is developing coffee production through plant cells in its laboratory. In the process, cell cultures floating in bioreactors filled with a nutrient medium are used to produce various animal- and plant-based products.

So, can lab-made coffee pass the taste test? Not quite yet, said Heikki Aisala, the VTT Research Scientist in charge of the evaluation and one of the few people allowed to taste the coffee because of health and safety laws.

"Not like of course 100%. It tastes like a combination of different types of coffees but of course we're not there yet with like the commercial variety. But it certainly does resemble coffee at the moment," he said.

According to VTT, the work started by initiating coffee cell cultures, establishing respective cell lines in the laboratory and transferring them to bioreactors to begin producing biomass. After analyses of the biomass, a roasting process was developed, and the new coffee was finally evaluated by VTT's trained sensory panel.

Rischer said a lab grown coffee had several benefits. There would be less use of pesticides and fertiliser, and transport would be much reduced. There would also be the added benefit of consistency with a product not reliant on seasons or other environmental factors.

In Europe, the lab-grown coffee needs to be approved as Novel Food before being marketed.