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5 Mins Read Dutch food tech brand Northern Wonder has made its retail debut with four beanless coffee products at supermarket chain Albert Heijn in the Netherlands. The Coffee-Free Coffee pods and filter grounds are the second iteration of the startup’s original lineup, which now also includes online-exclusive espresso-style grounds. Founded in 2021 by David Klingen, Bas Franse, Andreas […]
4 Mins Read Single-use paper cups for coffee may not be as eco-friendly as you think, as they still contain a thin coating of plastic that can leach chemicals into water and harm aquatic animals, according to a new study. Researchers found that coffee cups made from paper can be as toxic to aquatic midge larvae as plastic […]
9 Mins Read Hong Kong-based Clean Coffee is a sustainable specialty coffee business whose flagship café doubles as a launderette. Its co-founder Cynthia Lok met Green Queen to talk about all things coffee, sustainability, oat milk surcharges and consumer attitudes in Hong Kong. Cynthia Lok and I are sitting on the steps outside her coffee shop in Hong […]
6 Mins Read The link between coffee and climate change is well-documented. The industry has been hit with low harvests, uneven yields and uncertainty due to extreme temperatures and changing weather conditions. Coffee is among the foods with the highest greenhouse gas emissions, and increased demand is now leading to deforestation and human rights violations. One touted solution […]
8 Mins Read The world loves coffee and chocolate. But both are linked to two big problems: deforestation and ongoing human rights violations. What will it take for the industries to change their ways for good? Both coffee and chocolate are loved around the world for their deep and rich flavors, but also, their innate abilities to provide […]
3 Mins Read When it comes to natural beauty advice, how about implementing the same approach with our self-care and beauty routine as we do with our food? In a time when we find ourselves more glued to screens than ever, not to mention, getting more anxious from the incessant news cycle, putting on a homemade face mask […]
3 Mins Read Singapore-based coffee franchise, Flash Coffee, has announced an exclusive partnership with fellow Singaporean oat milk maker Oatside, which will be the default in any milk-based drinks, replacing dairy. The shift to oat milk makes Flash Coffee the first prominent coffee chain in Singapore to move away from conventional dairy. The new offering is at no […]
3 Mins Read Australia-based snack bar start-up I Am Grounded has released the first energy bar made from coffee waste by upcycling the nutrient-rich coffee fruit. In a bid to innovate in the energy bar sector while tackling agricultural waste, I Am Grounded is using coffee fruit — also known as coffee cherry — the fleshy, round stone […]
3 Mins Read By: Mark Maslin, Professor of Earth System Science, UCL and the Natural History Museum of Denmark & Carmen Nab, PhD Candidate in Environmental Science, UCL For many of us, coffee is essential. It allows us to function in the morning and gives a much needed boost during the day. But in new research, we revealed the effect that our favourite […]
4 Mins Read Smita J asks some tough questions. The activist questions our global food systems and their reliance on Big Food’s over-processed, industrially farmed commodities, shares her learnings from a visit to a sustainable farming community in Indonesia and insists we can do better and create equitable, nourishing, useful food systems in our own urban communities. The […]
4 Mins Read Earlier this month, the European Union announced a new law that will prevent the sale of products including beef, soy, and coffee linked to deforestation. Under the new law, companies selling commodity items from regions where deforestation is rampant will be required to produce due diligence statements about their supply chains. Failure to comply will […]
4 Mins Read Beanless coffee pods for your Nespresso machine? Northern Wonder is brewing just that: an innovative, alternative coffee product made sans beans to combat deforestation. Coffee Free Coffee? Northern Wonder, a European food technology company based in the Netherlands and founded by David Klingen, Bas Franse, Andreas Giel, and Onno Franse, is on a mission to […]
2 Mins Read Your coffee habit is on notice. Swiss retail giant Migros says it is launching a proprietary coffeemaking system aimed at replacing single-use coffee pods. Launching in Switzerland and France, Migros’ CoffeeB Coffee Balls were five years in the making. Designed to replace single-serve plastic coffee pods, they are encased in a thin protective layer that […]
3 Mins Read Seattle’s climate-friendly ‘beanless’ Atomo Coffee has announced the closing of its Series A, with a $40 million investment led by S2G Ventures, AgFunder, and Horizons Ventures. Reverse engineering the coffee bean to help address the climate crisis, Atomo Coffee says the Series A funding will help accelerate the development of its beanless coffee products and […]
3 Mins Read U.K.-founded Minor Figures has confirmed that both Danone, through its Manifesto Ventures investment arm, and Hong Kong’s Green Monday have become investors in the oat milk brand. The startup was founded in 2015 to supply barista-quality milk to coffee shops and retail consumers alike and has since expanded into canned ready-to-drink coffee and tea products. […]
3 Mins Read Actor and activist James Cromwell, best known for his roles in Succession and Babe, superglued himself to a Starbucks counter in New York City earlier this week. The act was a form of protest against the coffee chain’s continued implementation of a surcharge on all plant milk options. Cromwell participated alongside members of PETA, who […]
4 Mins Read Californian food tech startup Voyage Foods is a step closer to launching its ethical pantry staples. The company has confirmed a $36 million Series A raise co-led by UBS O’Connor and Level One Fund. This brings total funding to $41.7 million. Other participants in the round included Horizons Ventures, SOSV’s Indie Bio, and Social Impact […]
4 Mins Read Budding Californian CPG Voyage Foods has emerged from stealth development to announce the successful reverse engineering of certain favourite foods. The food tech is focussed on reproducing items considered unsustainable, allergen-heavy or vulnerable to supply issues, as the climate crisis worsens. So far it has created chocolate, peanut butter and coffee. Founder Adam Maxwell, formerly […]
3 Mins Read Coffee giant Starbucks has announced it is launching a line of dairy-free bottled frappuccinos. Historically slow to react to plant-based demand, Starbucks is making up for lost time. The Frappuccino announcement comes after a slew of new plant-forward releases this year. Frappuccinos have long been a favourite item on the Starbucks menu but this will […]
4 Mins Read The world could lose half of its best coffee-growing land under a moderate climate change scenario. Brazil, which is the currently world’s largest coffee producer, will see its most suitable coffee-growing land decline by 79%. That’s one key finding of a new study by scientists in Switzerland, who assessed the potential impacts of climate change on coffee, […]
3 Mins Read Fancy a cup of lab-grown coffee? Finnish researchers have managed to produce coffee cells in a bioreactor using cellular agriculture. According to the team, it smells and tastes exactly like your regular cup, but comes at a fraction of the environmental cost. Scientists at the VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland recently produced their first […]