Would you buy a synthetic coffee concocted in a lab? What if it was significantly cheaper and more environmentally friendly? David Burrows dons his white coat to see what the future may bring.
Taste tests carried out on the Moscato d’Asti mimic Lee’s team has produced suggest there’s a long way to go, but that doesn’t stop him dreaming about the possibilities – many of which could lie beyond wine. “I see a future where any food we want is available at the touch of a button,” he says. Food would be cheap, plentiful and sustainable.
MOLECULAR PUZZLE
Such claims should always be taken with a pinch of salt (Lee is a man who insists he can turn water into wine in 15 minutes). Still, it makes you think: if it’s possible to recreate wine in the lab, could the same be done with coffee?
“I haven’t looked at its molecular profile to get a really good sense of it, [but] I do think that’s a possibility,” says Lee. Texture and caffeine would be the most straightforward bits, while flavour and aroma would be the most difficult, he assumes. Others agree it’s possible, but that doesn’t mean synthetic coffee would be easy, cheap or acceptable.
This story is from the December 2016 - January 2017 edition of Caffeine.
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This story is from the December 2016 - January 2017 edition of Caffeine.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
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