Atomo, a Seattle-based startup, is among several alternative coffee companies striving to change the way the world consumes brewed coffee. These companies aim to replicate the flavor, caffeine content, and overall experience of traditional coffee without using coffee beans.
“We take offense when someone calls us a coffee substitute,” says Andy Kleitsch, CEO of Atomo. The company produces a beanless coffee alternative, which has been used to make my espresso. Unlike traditional coffee substitutes, often known for lacking authentic taste and caffeine, Atomo and its competitors seek to create a brew indistinguishable from the real thing.
These startups emphasize the environmental benefits of their beanless brews. Coffee cultivation is currently the sixth-largest driver of deforestation globally, according to the World Wide Fund for Nature. With coffee consumption rising in regions like India and China, and climate change forcing plantations to higher altitudes, the environmental strain from traditional coffee farming is growing.
Beanless coffee, proponents argue, could offer a more sustainable solution. Not only might it be less environmentally harmful, but it also has the potential to become cheaper than conventional coffee if production scales up. This could be especially significant, as global coffee prices have soared to record highs in recent years.
Moreover, new European Union regulations set to take effect in December will ban the sale of products linked to deforestation, including coffee. This could spur interest in beanless alternatives.
“A lot of major coffee companies are watching this space closely,” says Chahan Yeretzian, a professor at the Coffee Excellence Centre at Zurich University of Applied Sciences. Niels Haak, director of sustainable coffee partnerships at Conservation International, acknowledges the importance of reducing coffee’s deforestation impact but remains skeptical of how much beanless coffee can help. He points out that coffee farming provides income for many smallholder farmers, and shifting away from coffee could lead to even more harmful crop cultivation, such as coca plants used for cocaine production.
Efforts are underway to make coffee farming more sustainable, with initiatives like coffee certification schemes and shade-grown coffee. However, beanless coffee companies argue that the traditional sector isn’t transforming quickly enough. They believe that even if alternative coffee could meet just the additional projected demand, it would benefit the environment without displacing existing coffee producers.
Atomo, founded in 2019, is already making waves. Its product is sold in over 70 U.S. coffee shops, including the Bluestone Lane chain, which added Atomo to its menus in August. The company also offers a blend of beanless and traditional coffee for home brewing through its website, priced slightly higher than premium conventional coffee.
Atomo’s ingredients are simple: date seeds, ramón seeds, sunflower seed extract, and caffeine, among others. The production process involves granulating date seeds, infusing them with a secret marinade, roasting them to develop flavor, and then adding other ingredients to complete the blend. The caffeine comes from green tea decaffeination, though synthetic caffeine is sometimes used.
Atomo’s facility in California processes the date pits, while a second facility in Seattle handles manufacturing. With a current capacity of four million pounds per year, the company’s output is still modest compared to giants like Starbucks, which purchases around 800 million pounds annually.
Other beanless coffee startups are emerging as well. Dutch company Northern Wonder, founded in 2021, has secured shelf space in supermarkets in the Netherlands and Switzerland. The company uses ingredients like lupin, chickpea, malted barley, and chicory in its coffee alternatives, though it is still refining its recipe.
Further afield, companies like Singapore-based Prefer and San Francisco’s Minus are also developing beanless coffee, while another innovative approach – lab-grown coffee – is being explored. Similar to lab-grown meat, coffee cells could be cultivated in bioreactors, fermented, and roasted to create a brew without the need for beans. Finnish researchers demonstrated proof of concept in 2021, and several startups, including Switzerland’s Foodbrewer and California Cultured in the U.S., are pursuing commercialization.
Despite the promise of beanless and lab-grown coffee, there are challenges ahead. The distinctive aroma of freshly brewed coffee remains difficult to replicate, and beanless brews don’t evoke the same connection to traditional coffee-growing regions like Colombia or Ethiopia. Moreover, for beanless coffee to truly succeed, it will need large-scale partners and investor confidence.
“Atomo’s main challenge is finding major coffee companies willing to embrace this new choice,” says Kleitsch. Meanwhile, Northern Wonder is focused on securing the right investors to expand its operations.
While I’m not quite ready to make the switch myself, trying Atomo left me thinking about the sustainability and ethics of my usual coffee – and whether there might be a greener brew in my future.