Coffee brewed up in a lab could help to preserve rainforests

‘These solutions have a lower water footprint and less transport is needed due to local production’

SCIENTISTS have produced the first ever lab-grown coffee – which could be the answer to deforestation.

The pioneering bean-less coffee may provide an eco solution to problems associated with flat whites and lattes.

Rainforests and vegetation must currently be cleared due to the plants’ need for sunlight as well as the ever increasing demand for the beverage – it is believed that the average Briton consumes more than 6lbs (up to 3kg) of coffee every year.

Studies have also revealed coffee will be significantly impacted by climate change as it will reduce the area suitable for coffee growth by 50 per cent. But researchers at the VTT research institute in Finland – the country which drinks the most coffee per capita – have brewed a batch which “smells and tastes like” the conventional drink.

Using the leaves from a plant, head of plant biotechnology Dr Heiko Rischer and his team have formed cells which are then propagated and multiplied. He said: “The idea is to use biotechnology rather than conventional farming for the production of food and therefore provide alternative routes which are less dependent on unsustainable practices. For example, these solutions have a lower water footprint and less transport is needed due to local production. There isn’t any seasonable dependency or the need for pesticides either.” After going in a bioreactor, the coffee cells are then harvested before they are dried and roasted. Dr Rischer predicts that in four years, production of lab-grown coffee will be approved and will have increased.

The idea that coffee cells could be used to make the beverage was first realised in 1970.