Processing & Quality
the coffee of the future will be more engineering than natural? it's not science fiction anymore
D
i think it's time for a serious coffee discussion.
There's some development going on or on:
WCR F1 hybrid variables: World Coffee Research and release of some of the F1 hybrids such as Centroamerican, Starmayan, Milenio, and Mundo Novo. This is not GMO but the hybrid designed for certain characters: disease resistance, yield higher, predictable cup quality. The farmer who planted this adopt genetic character is already engineer for a certain purpose.
The lab-grown coffee: VTT Technical Research Centre in Finland succeeded in producing coffee from the plant cell culture in the lab in 2021. Not yet commercial but proof of conception already exists. No gardens, no land, no farmers.
CRlSPR for coffee plants: for Cofea arabica is still very early, but academically the exploration has begun. There's a paper on Frontiers in Plant Science 2023 about genomic editing for Camellia sinensis that's a similar line. Coffee is only a matter of time if the research interest is enough.
Controlled fermentation with designer yeast and LAB cultures: this is happening now. no longer rely on native microbiome, but curated culture designed for specific profiles.
The question I'd like to throw for the discussion: if this direction continues, what's a coffee special 10-20 years from now? Are origin and terroir relevant if Flavor can be identified from upstream downstream?
There's some development going on or on:
WCR F1 hybrid variables: World Coffee Research and release of some of the F1 hybrids such as Centroamerican, Starmayan, Milenio, and Mundo Novo. This is not GMO but the hybrid designed for certain characters: disease resistance, yield higher, predictable cup quality. The farmer who planted this adopt genetic character is already engineer for a certain purpose.
The lab-grown coffee: VTT Technical Research Centre in Finland succeeded in producing coffee from the plant cell culture in the lab in 2021. Not yet commercial but proof of conception already exists. No gardens, no land, no farmers.
CRlSPR for coffee plants: for Cofea arabica is still very early, but academically the exploration has begun. There's a paper on Frontiers in Plant Science 2023 about genomic editing for Camellia sinensis that's a similar line. Coffee is only a matter of time if the research interest is enough.
Controlled fermentation with designer yeast and LAB cultures: this is happening now. no longer rely on native microbiome, but curated culture designed for specific profiles.
The question I'd like to throw for the discussion: if this direction continues, what's a coffee special 10-20 years from now? Are origin and terroir relevant if Flavor can be identified from upstream downstream?
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