S2: Episode 13: The Future Of Coffee
In the last episode of Season 2 we are taking a moment to muse on the future of coffee. What will be the next revolution in brewing, will it taste like coffee as we know it today and will our coffee of the future even be made from coffee beans? In the final FACQ of the season we find out that the future of coffee may already be here!
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Please note that although I read all texts, I don’t have the facility to reply to them, but you can also get in touch via Instagram and email.
Email: thecoffeedrinkersguide@gmail.com
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Hello and welcome to The Coffee Drinker’s Guide, a podcast for the coffee curious where I explore and explain the world of specialty coffee to make your daily coffee better and more satisfying.
I’m Angela Holder a coffee roaster and writer on a mission to fight back against bad coffee by giving you the knowledge you need to help you get good coffee and a happier (coffee) life in coffee-break sized episodes. So grab your coffee, pull up a chair and take a break…
Welcome to the season 2 finale! I’ll be taking a break after this while I prepare the next season’s episodes and will be back in October. But first, in the last episode for this season we are musing on the potential future of coffee as seen through its current state as an industry and a drink…and later I’ll be answering a question about whether the future of coffee even lies with coffee at all. Make sure you keep listening to discover the potentially disturbing answer to this enigmatic question…
Coffee is a fundamental part of the lives of millions, if not billions, of people around the world but I’m willing to bet that most people give no more thought to it other than to think about where and when to get their next cup. It is easy to fall into the trap of believing that in a world where things change all the time around you, at your personal level the structure of your life - including your daily coffee - will hardly change at all. In fact as anyone who has witnessed the changes in the coffee world over the last few decades can tell you, coffee has changed a lot. The question now is, where is it going in the future…
So firstly the future and the brew
As with most predictions, attempts to forecast how people are going to enjoy their coffee in the future actually tend to focus on what people are concerned with now. I have read that people will want their coffee to have added health supplements. That cold brew coffee is popular with the younger generation now so this segment of the market will continue to expand and that canned coffee's popularity will continue to rise. It seems like every week a new coffee machine is reviewed on YouTube which is designed to brew the perfect coffee with minimal input by a human; that human being you. And then of course there is the rise of the robot barista. Your future cup of coffee will apparently be faster, more convenient and better for you. However these are really just tweaks to the status quo. Arguably the last truly innovative development in the brewing of coffee was the invention of instant coffee in 1890, which came hard on the heels of the invention of the espresso machine in 1884. I’m willing to bet no-one saw those coming and no-one will foresee the next great brewing innovation either…
Next the future and the taste
I worry that developments in coffee brewing that deliver faster, more convenient and so called ‘healthier’ coffee will do so at the expense of flavour - and especially of nuance and complexity - delivering ‘dumbed down’ coffee. Having said that, Specialty coffee roasters currently seem to be in the grip of an obsession with sweet and funky coffee flavours. To meet this demand coffee producers are experimenting with their green coffee processing methods. These experiments include - but are not limited to - dramatically extending fermentation times, ‘spiking’ fermentation processes with novel yeasts and bacteria, playing around with the temperature of the process at different stages and even ‘ageing’ green coffee in old alcohol barrels. If these processes eventually replace traditional coffee processing methods this means that the coffee flavours of the future could be very funky indeed and perhaps may even not be something we would recognise as coffee today…!
Finally the future and the bean
There is no getting away from the fact that coffee as most of us drink it today is not sustainable. It is grown in the tropics and subtropics then container-shipped around the world to be roasted in gas powered roasters before often being transported by road to the end consumer - all of which means that a lot of energy and fossil fuel goes into every cup we drink. The history of coffee is one of colonisation and land clearances to produce a cash crop. The economics of coffee keeps millions of coffee workers living below the poverty line. Coffee production has contributed to the climate crisis that it is now starting to feel the consequences of, as weather patterns change and coffee plants succumb to associated pests and diseases. Environmental changes are impacting on Arabica coffee growing areas in particular. None of this is comfortable to live with and it makes me wonder if we should be drinking coffee at all; which creates something of an existential crisis for me. International Climate Change meetings aside, there is some hope. Coffee people aren’t waiting for Governments to decide to act and are working to find solutions to these problems today. Developing coffee plants that will cope with climate change and transporting coffee by sailing ship are just two of the many and diverse solutions that people are pursuing to ensure that our children’s children can enjoy a cup of coffee too. The future can still be bright. And caffeinated.
And now its time for a Frequently Asked Coffee Question…
And this episode’s question is…
Is synthetic coffee the future of coffee?
If you think synthetic coffee is the stuff of distopian sci-fi movies you may be disturbed to hear that a recently launched synthetic coffee product called Atomo Coffee is already being sold in certain coffee chains in America. Atomo Coffee is a so called cold brew ‘coffee’ (in inverted commas) which is manufactured in the USA using plant waste and not a single coffee bean. It ticks the environmental boxes, apparently tastes coffee-like and is marketed as the future of coffee. This could be the unforeseen innovation in coffee brewing I talked about earlier - as in the future of coffee doesn’t include coffee at all!. However, and you may call me old fashioned here, but I'd like our sustainable coffee future to actually contain some coffee! And with some hard work, innovative thinking and commitment, I don’t see why it shouldn’t.
Thank you for listening to this episode of The Coffee Drinker’s Guide and that was all about the future of coffee. I hope that it got you thinking. What do you think the future of coffee holds? And would you drink Atomo Coffee? Let me know by using the ‘send me a text message’ link in the show notes. Unfortunately, I am unable to reply to text messages but you can also get in touch via Instagram @thecoffeedrinkersguide or email me at thecoffeedrinkersguide@gmail.com if you have a question about coffee. If this or any episode in seasons 1 and 2 connected with you please tell all your coffee-loving friends and rate and review this podcast wherever you listen to your podcasts to help other coffee curious people find the show too. Thanks to my executive producer Viel Richardson at Lusona Publishing and Media Limited. You can find him at lusonapub.co.uk.
And that’s it for season two of The Coffee Drinker’s Guide! The podcast will be back in October with yet more peeks behind the scenes of the specialty coffee world, need-to-know coffee information, brewing tips and of course your Frequently Asked Coffee Questions. Make sure you follow the show so that you don’t miss the start of season 3 when it drops! Until then I’m Angela Holder thanks for sharing your coffee breaks with me - the best way to tackle life is one coffee at a time and here’s to better coffee!
The Coffee Drinker’s Guide is a Blue Sky Coffee Project