This coffee is prepared without coffee beans

The Netherlands is a real coffee country. With the amount of coffee Dutchies drink per year, they have been in the top 10 of most coffee drinkers for years. Drinking so much coffee also comes with a downside: deforestation. Northern Wonder is a food technology company developing alternative coffee. Alternatives that do not require tropical ingredients, and therefore no deforestation. In collaboration with a lab at the World Food Center in Ede and Wageningen University & Research, they are looking for the best composition to keep the Dutch in the top 10, but in a sustainable way.

The demand for coffee in the world is increasing. If you combine this with global warming, you will see an increase in rainforest deforestation. At Northern Wonder they came to the conclusion that if others could make meat without animals, then they could also make coffee without coffee beans.In order to make this beanless coffee, their lab in Ede has joined forces with Wageningen University. Together they looked at all aspects of local edible plants to find out which molecules ensure a real coffee taste. The worthy contestants seemed to be the lupine bean, chickpea and blackbush.

If others can make meat without animals, then we can also make coffee without coffee beans

The perfect combination of natural molecules from the plants ensures that the product contains the taste and smell of real coffee. Northern Wonder’s Coffee Free Coffee contains the necessary caffeine and is brewed as everyone is used to. But is it also better for the environment? An initial analysis of their environmental impact has already shown that their Coffee Free Coffee has a lower CO2 footprint and is more environmentally friendly in terms of water and land use than regular coffee. By using local plants to make caffeine elixir, the beanless coffee travels fewer kilometers than regular coffee. Drink beanless coffee with the smell and taste of real coffee, but without the negative impact.