I am in a high-end coffee shop in a tech-heavy area of San Francisco, staring suspiciously into a cup of espresso. This is no conventional coffee: it is made without using a single coffee bean.
It comes from Atomo, one of a band of alt-coffee start-ups hoping to revolutionise the world of brewed coffee.
“We take great offence when someone says that we’re a coffee substitute,” says Andy Kleitsch, the chief executive of Seattle based start-up Atomo, from whose pure, beanless ground product my espresso has been made.
Traditional coffee substitutes have a reputation for not tasting much like coffee and are usually caffeine-free.
However, the newcomers intend to replicate one of the world’s most popular beverages from taste, to caffeine punch, to drinking experience – and the first of this nascent industry’s beanless concoctions have begun to appear.
Atomo’s ingredients aren’t particularly high tech: date seeds, ramón seeds, sunflower seed extract, fructose, pea protein, millet, lemon, guava, fenugreek seeds, caffeine and baking soda.
For those wondering.
Coffee substitute, coffee alternative, caffeinated beverage are all possible descriptions, but this is not coffee.
Hard agree, but prepare for a possible “fight”. Nut drinkers also like to claim they enjoy their nut “milk”.
I agree that nut juice(?) is probably not milk, but only coffee and cascara comes from the Coffea plant. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coffea
The only thing I wanted to know is: does it taste any good?
As for trying Atomo, both the coffee shop espresso and the brew-at-home version tasted close enough to good coffee for me. Perhaps luckily for these companies, coffee can have many different undertones.
That’s it? Over 1000 words for ‘close enough’?
I’m fussy about real coffee, I’m going to need a bit more detail.
Atomo’s ingredients aren’t particularly high tech: date seeds, ramón seeds, sunflower seed extract, fructose, pea protein, millet, lemon, guava, fenugreek seeds, caffeine and baking soda.
Things begin with waste date seeds or pits. Rock hard, they are granulated then infused with a secret marinade of ingredients from the list above, before being roasted to create new flavours, aromas and compounds.
Further ingredients then finish things off. Atomo’s caffeine is sourced from green tea decaffeination, though synthetically-made caffeine is also used to provide beanless coffee’s kick.
Latter day café?
