FOOD & DRINK
THE FUTURE 100 102
In September 2021, VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland said it had produced a brew that smelled and tasted like regular coffee—all without
growing a single coffee plant. The coffee was lab-grown from cell cultures in a bioreactor, with steel vessels filled with a nutrient-rich broth.
“The experience of drinking the very first cup was exciting,” VTT research team leader Dr Heiko Rischer says. “I estimate we are only four years away from ramping up production and having regulatory approval in place.”
Cell-cultured coffee Following meat and seafood, coffee could be the next item grown in a lab.
Coffee produced in a bioreactor through cellular agriculture by VTT Research
