Plant‑based coffee innovation summary
- Plant‑based meat demand is weakening while flavour remains a key consumer priority
- Coffee waste can be enzymatically processed to create a kokumi enhancer
- The compound boosts richness in foods containing fat and sugar
- Coffee waste, over other plant-based side streams, successfully produces this valuable flavour‑enhancing molecule
- Innovation supports category recovery while upcycling waste into higher‑value ingredients
The plant-based meat sector is struggling. One need only look to one of the biggest names in vegan burgers, Beyond Meat, to see how weak demand can hit a business.
The situation isn’t helped by the category’s association with now-criticised ultra-processed foods, nor by new regulations restricting how these products can be marketed.
But in food, taste remains king. And if manufacturers can level up their products to meet consumers’ high expectations, the plant-based sector could very much turn itself around.
In good news for those faltering, a new invention is promising to do just that: make plant-based products taste richer, fuller, and ultimately, better.
An unlikely ingredient to the rescue: coffee
Plant-based meat alternatives, like burgers or sausages, often come with lengthy ingredients lists. Shoppers may see soy or pea protein, or vegetable oils. They’re unlikely, however, to see coffee.
But discarded coffee beans and used coffee grounds can be turned into a flavour-enhancing ingredient, according to Japanese biotech start-up Fermenstation, which has filed a global patent covering the invention.
The process involves treating coffee with certain enzymes, fermenting it with microorganisms, and creating a compound known as glutamylvalylglycine. The result is a food ingredient linked to the Japanese term “kokumi” – which roughly translates as richness, body, mouthfulness, or depth of flavour.
On its own, the ingredient is tasteless. But when used in cooking, it helps to boost the feeling of richness, particularly in foods containing sugar and fat.
How a coffee-derived ingredient makes foods taste better
The secret to the process is very much the coffee itself. Researchers attempted to apply the same process to other food waste materials, but were unable to create the same flavour-boosting result.
There are three steps to the process. To start with, the researchers take coffee beans or spent coffee grounds and treat them with a protein-breaking enzyme (protease), and can also treat them with a plant fibre-breaking enzyme like cellulase. That’s because coffee grounds are made of a tough plant material – the enzymes help break it down to release or generate the necessary compounds.
Next up, the researchers say there’s an optional fermentation step that, if applied, can further boost how much of the target compound is attained. Microorganisms used in this step can include yeast, lactic acid bacteria and koji mould.
And finally, the resulting material is applied to food – either as a seasoning, a food ingredient, or as a flavour-enhancer.
A win-win for profit and planet?
From a commercial perspective, the potential gains are clear. If plant‑based meat companies can strengthen the flavour profile of their products, it could genuinely help turn the category’s fortunes around.
From Fermenstation’s perspective, too, there’s financial interest. Plant-based meat is just one of the products that could benefit from its coffee waste-derived ingredient. It can also add depth of flavour to soups, sauces, dairy, and processed foods. The patent lists other possible food uses too, including meat products, baked goods and beverages.
For the biotech start-up, which specialises in developing upcycled ingredients, it would be a mistake to overlook the potential planetary benefits. The target compound, glutamylvalylglycine, is typically associated with animal-based materials like scallops or fish sauce, so creating the same compound from plants is significant for Fermenstation.
The development also helps repurpose would‑be waste. While spent coffee grounds, lower‑quality beans and roasting byproducts can already be used for fertiliser, feed or fuel, the real goal is to upcycle them into higher‑value products – which this invention achieves by turning coffee waste into a flavour‑enhancing food ingredient.
