Growing Coffee in the Lab

Worried about the environmental impact of intensive coffee agriculture to support your supply? In about 4 years we may see on the market coffee grown from coffee plant cells. It skips the beans and deforestation to grow coffee in a bioreactor. Once dried and roasted, the lab-grown product is pretty tasty.

"The process uses real coffee plant cells," he tells us. "Initially a cell culture is started from a plant part eg. a leaf. The formed cells are propagated and multiplied on a specific nutrient medium. Ultimately, the cells are transferred to a bioreactor from which the biomass is then harvested. The cells are dried and roasted and then coffee can be brewed."