Reimagining the future of chocolate and coffee with alternative protein technologies 

Alternative protein companies are facing strong headwinds. Once marketed as healthier alternatives, plant-based foods now bear the label of “ultra-processed” in consumers' eyes. Meanwhile, ambitious startups in cellular agriculture—aiming to scale “lab-grown” meats—are struggling to meet expectations, even disappointing many of their original supporters. A new ecosystem is emerging among these challenges: startups developing alternatives to coffee and chocolate. 

1 - Plant-based alternatives to coffee and chocolate 

For chocolate and coffee, plant-based solutions are the logical first step. The goal isn’t to completely replace coffee beans or cocoa but to find ways to supplement them, lowering costs and environmental impact while keeping the taste consumers love. 

• Chocolate Alternatives: Voyage Foods is developing allergen-free chocolate that reduces reliance on cocoa. Their work has attracted investment from major companies like Cargill. 

• Coffee Reimagined: Atomo Coffee creates “beanless” coffee using upcycled ingredients and natural compounds, offering a sustainable alternative that tastes just like the real thing. 

Other startups are going back to basics with simple, plant-based coffee alternatives. For example, mushroom coffee from Four Sigmatic adds health benefits like better focus, using adaptogenic mushrooms for a unique twist on your morning brew. 

2 - Using fermentation for coffee 

Precision fermentation—already known for its potential applications in dairy protein alternatives—is now being applied to coffee. Through fermentation, they can recreate coffee’s flavor compounds without using beans. 

Minus Coffee, for example, uses this technology to produce coffee-like beverages with 95% less water and 92% less land than traditional coffee. 

3 - Plant-cell culture: the new holy grail of the alternative protein ecosystem 

If one space has received a lot of attention in 2024, it is plant-cell culture. The idea is quite similar to cellular agriculture. Here the goal is to cultivate plant cells to recreate the whole product, and not just a single protein. 

Compared to animal products, recreating plant cells appears to be much simpler, and the handful of startups working in that space are already achieving impressive production levels. California Cultured, a US-based startup, is maybe the most well-known. It has already announced a partnership with Meiji, a leading Japanese confectionary company, and has received investments from Puratos, a Belgium bakery giant. 

Chocolate and coffee makers don’t need to feel threatened by these emerging products. They are here as potential answers to naturally limited resources. In the case of coffee, new use cases, such as cold brew or blends with health-boosting ingredients, maybe the most exciting thing to consider. For cocoa, these alternatives are still being developed as solutions for the confectionery market, where they could be blended with or replace the lowest quality products.