The Coffee
of the Future 

(Culinary start-up) In the 17th century, it was the roots of the blue-flowering common chicory that served as a coffee substitute. Today, it’s ingredients like date seeds, pea protein, or guava. The history of coffee alternatives is long, shaped by scarcity and war as much as by modern concerns about water usage, farming practices, and labor conditions. Start-ups have responded to climate change by launching numerous versions of coffee without coffee beans. Drastic shifts in climate are also threatening cocoa cultivation, casting doubt on the future of chocolate as we know it.

Current data suggests that by 2050, the areas suitable for growing the delicate Arabica coffee plant could shrink by half. At the same time, rainforests are being cleared to make way for new monocultures, and higher elevations currently unsuitable for coffee farming, such as in Nicaragua, could become viable due to global warming. However, this poses a threat to local biodiversity. It’s a complex equation with many unknowns, but the trend is clear. Adding to the challenge is the soaring interest in coffee in Asian countries like China and India.

While the coffee industry works on developing plants that can withstand higher temperatures and altered rainfall patterns, companies like Atomo and Compound Foods are taking a completely different approach. They’re developing mimicry products that taste remarkably like traditional coffee but are made from ingredients that are easier and more sustainable to produce. Atomo, founded in 2019 in Seattle—a hub of coffee culture—began by experimenting with watermelon seeds and sunflower stems. Today, their coffee alternative is based on date seeds from California’s Coachella Valley—a by-product of local date farming. Compound Foods also uses date seeds, along with grape seeds, another apparent waste product.

Atomo enhances the otherwise coffee-neutral date seeds with a blend of plant-based ingredients that together mimic the flavor of coffee beans including carrot powder, fenugreek, sunflower seeds, aronia berries, and oats.

In a Seattle roastery, the raw product undergoes the Maillard reaction for its final aromatic touch. Atomo currently partners mainly with coffee producers and sells its coffee alternatives in 50:50 blends.

To answer a key question: yes, many of these new coffee variations still contain caffeine. Atomo, for example, uses caffeine extracted from tea plants—100 mg per serving, equivalent to a large cup of filter coffee.

At Northern Wonder, founded in 2021 by a team of four men, the question is being asked: how can the typical coffee aroma be replicated at a molecular level without using beans and their known environmental downsides? The Dutch start-up, based at the World Food Center near Wageningen University, has decided to use only non-tropical ingredients. Their ingredient list include, among other things, roasted lupins – a traditional coffee substitute – as well as grains like rye and barley, chicory, and dried blackcurrants.

Their products are available either with added synthetic caffeine or naturally caffeine-free. For the latter, the missing bitterness is compensated for with dandelion root. Why synthetic caffeine? Simply because all other caffeine sources—like tea—are tropical, which contradicts the company’s self-imposed principles.

Unsurprisingly, the capsules for this Dutch mimicry coffee are compostable—made from starch, glucose, and paper industry waste. Northern Wonder openly admits that their formulas are far from final. Research is ongoing to get even closer to the flavor of bean coffee. Variables include ingredient selection (the “non-tropical plants” rule still allows for a wide variety), pre-treatment of ingredients before roasting, and changes to the roasting profile. When Northern Wonder had their product tested by certified Q-graders (professional coffee tasters), the leap in quality from the first to the second market version was already significant.

Currently, the team is working on alternatives to whole coffee beans—considered the gold standard in the substitute coffee scene, where most products, out of necessity, come in powdered form. With this solid bean format, they hope to win over consumers who see grinding as a ritual part of coffee preparation and are therefore skeptical of alternatives.

The future of coffee may not end with these start-ups. A Finnish research project is developing coffee that doesn’t require the cultivation of any plant at all—it’s grown in a bioreactor from coffee plant cells.