Slashing CO2Coffee minus coffee.
Big Picture
Coffee is at once a contributor to climate change and in its crosshairs. Growing, shipping, roasting, and serving add up. Each of the 450 million cups consumed daily in the US accounts for 17x its weight in CO₂ and 140x its volume in water. On the other hand, by 2050, rising temps and intensifying droughts will decrease suitable coffee- producing land by 50% and put 60% of all coffee species at risk.
How it Works
Minus makes beanless coffee. Their team of synthetic biologists and food scientists have identified the compounds that give coffee its characteristic aromas, flavors, and effect on energy levels. Leveraging advances in precision fermentation, they engineer yeasts to recreate these volatile and non-volatile compounds in a precise formulation for premium hot and cold brew coffees.
Unfair Advantage
Growing coffee was already labor- and land-intensive. Now, a warming climate is squeezing yields and forcing farmers to cut down rainforests to make room for more crops. Minus’ engineered yeast can brew coffee with identical aroma and flavors at a fraction of the cost and environmental impact. It also has a longer shelf life. The result is the best-tasting and most sustainable coffee in the world.
16
Tons of CO₂e
avoided per ton of coffee
MARICEL SAENZ CEO & FOUNDER
A native Costa Rican, Maricel previously founded Nextbiotics, a synbio company tackling antibiotic resistance.
SWETHA MAHADEVAN HEAD OF PRODUCT
Swetha was previously Director of Food Sciences at Eat Just. She holds a PhD in Food Science from Rutgers.
Coffee and Climate Have a Complicated Relationship
The New York Times
Compound Foods brews up $4.5M to make coffee without beans
TechCrunch
Your Next Coffee Could Be Grown in a Lab
Wired