Cultivated coffee future overview
- Climate change threatens coffee yields, increasing demand for alternative production methods
- Cultivated coffee remains early stage with no regulatory approval yet
- Market forecasts predict 21.22% CAGR growth between 2025 and 2032
- Production uses coffee cells grown in bioreactors through biotechnology processes
- High costs, consumer reluctance and regulation remain key barriers to scale
Like many other ingredients, coffee is under threat. Climate change is impacting yields, especially for Arabica, as weather patterns make production more difficult. Substitutes may therefore play a significant role in the future.
One of these substitutes is cultivated coffee. While it is still in the realm of development and has yet to reach the market, it nevertheless has potential.
What is the potential for cultivated coffee?
The market for cultivated coffee is still more potential than reality. Yet this potential is significant.
While it does not yet have regulatory approval in any market, it does not exist in a vacuum; interest in biotech, especially in the realm of food, is strong.
“While cultivated coffee is still at a relatively early stage, it reflects a wider shift we’re seeing towards biotechnology-driven approaches,” says a spokesperson for the organisation EIT Food.
While cultivated cocoa is being taken up by a wide range of companies, including Barry Callebaut and Mondelēz International, cultivated coffee hasn’t generated this level of FMCG interest – yet.
Nevertheless, some forecasts predict rapid growth in the sector. According to the market research company, Data Bridge Market Research, the cell-cultured coffee market will grow at a CAGR of 21.22% between 2025 and 2032.
Growth will be driven by both demand for more traceable and ethical coffee, and technological advancements in scalable biomanufacturing and fermentation techniques, according to the market research platform.
Of course, many barriers remain, such as low consumer awareness and consumer reluctance, high production costs and regulatory approvals. It is predicted that cultivated coffee derived from robusta cells has the most potential in this space.
Cultivated coffee is being produced by several start-ups, such as Stem and Pluri Biotech, as well as VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland.
How is cultivated coffee made?
First thing’s first: how is cultivated coffee actually made?
The development of cultivated coffee starts with coffee cells. First, explains Heiko Rischer, principal scientist and head of plant biotechnology at VTT, vegetative material from the original plant must be acquired and sterilised. Then it must be placed in a growth medium, much like cultivated meat’s cell culture medium. Cell growth is then initiated on that medium.
Once cells are growing, they can be multiplied and transferred to a liquid medium. To scale production, this can be transferred to a bioreactor.
Cultivated coffee has been developed by VTT, which has now released details of the process.
While the ambition is there to upscale, cultivated coffee currently remains in its early stages. VTT’s own facilities have 1000-litre bioreactors, which is pilot scale, but other parties have scaled beyond this, says Rischer.
VTT is still developing the production process. Since 2021, when the product was first developed, it has been focusing on improving raw material generation, meaning “everything happening in the bioreactors”. This involves optimising each of the steps in the process.
Cultivated coffee may not yet be on the market, but as climate change continues to pressure conventional coffee production, there remains a strong potential for the ingredient.
