🌿 Hey Earth First Fam!
Welcome to Newsletter #3!
Buckle up for a deep dive into the world of BEAN FREE COFFEE, yup, you heard us correctly. You may be looking down at your coffee right now and wondering how that’s possible. Well, let's talk about it!
Who’s leading the new cup? None other than Andy Kleitsch, CEO & co-founder of Atomo Coffee!
Here’s what you can expect in this edition:
What’s the impact of coffee & Why does it matter?
Who is Andy Kleitsch & What’s his founding story?
What’s Atomo’s objective & What do they offer?
🧐 Why Does Coffee Matter in the World of Climate?
Your Morning Coffee's Secret? It's Kinda Heavy on the Planet ☕
Hey there, fellow coffee enthusiast! Have you ever thought about the environmental journey of your daily coffee? Beyond the perk of caffeine, our beloved coffee carries a hefty ecological footprint, weaving through deforestation, water consumption, and climate change implications.
Jungle Alarm Bells 🌳
Our love for coffee is quite literally consuming tropical forests. Visualize this: every single cup of coffee we sip results in a square inch of rainforest disappearing. The consequences? A cascade of biodiversity loss, disrupted carbon storage, and altered water cycles are all fueling the climate change engine.
Coffee's Big Gulp 💧
Brace for impact: brewing one cup guzzles approximately 140 liters (37 gallons) of water, pressing hard on regions already parched. The agriculture involved sends a cocktail of chemicals into our waterways, impacting both aquatic life and human water sources.
A Brewing Climate Crisis 🌡️
Climate change is cornering coffee cultivation into shrinking spaces, heightening deforestation and the carbon output from transport and processing. Arabica beans, the crowd favorite, are in distress over rising temperatures, affecting quality and driving up costs—highlighted by a 6.3% price increase per cup thanks to climate weirdness like droughts and frosts hitting coffee regions hard.
Can’t We Just Grow More Coffee? Isn’t Organic Coffee the Answer? 🔄
With coffee drinking expected to triple by 2050, and with climate variability wreaking havoc on growers, the coffee industry has deep concerns about the availability of quality coffee in the future…
So what is their plan? The coffee industry has two growth strategies, both which have negative impacts 1.) keep clearing land for new farms or 2.) grow more coffee on established farms by applying agrochemicals. But what about shade-grown organic farms? Simply put: they are less productive than full-sun agrochemical farms. To meet future demand with organic shade-grown farms would require substantial (increased) deforestation and loss of biodiversity.
Brewing a Better Coffee Future 📈
The coffee market's booming is projected to drive a whopping $93.2 billion in revenue in 2024. That's a lot of latte. But as coffee drinkers, our choices can push for a planet-friendly pivot. Opting for responsibly sourced beans can help steer the coffee world toward a healthy future.
Grabbing that next cup? Think about the impact it has, and maybe, just maybe, we can make a change—one sip at a time.
🌟 Andy: From Tech Wiz to Eco Warrior
From Coding to Caring 🚀
So, you know Andy, right? Spent a whopping 25 years in the tech game, coding up a storm and always riding the wave of the next big thing. But then, something clicked. He has consistently been at the forefront of major technological breakthroughs, yet there arrived a moment when he started to ponder the environmental consequences of these advancements.
Learning from the Youngins 🌱
What flipped the switch? Advising the students and faculty at the University of Washington. These kids, all fire and ideas for fixing the big blue planet, got Andy thinking: maybe innovation isn't just for gadgets and apps.
Their drive to solve real-world problems made me realize that innovation doesn't just belong in the digital world. It's equally needed in addressing our planet's environmental crises.
Looking at things from his daughters' perspective and feeling concerned about the state of the planet, Andy felt a strong urge to step up. He realized the world they were set to inherit wasn't in great shape, due to current practices. That sparked his decision to spend the rest of his career working towards a healthier planet.
Diving into the Deep End of Coffee 🥽
Andy's lightbulb moment? "Coffee without the bean." Sounds wild, right? After hitting the books and chatting up coffee gurus, he had his big "aha!" "It was a eureka moment," Andy says. Coffee brings people together from all corners of the globe, but it's also got a pretty hefty eco-footprint. He saw this and recognized there was an opportunity to effect change.
So, he got his hands dirty, learned the roasting ropes, and even got a Q grader badge. Then, a trip to Peru showed him the dark side of those beans: deforestation, poverty, and sick communities.
During his journey, Andy discovered that small Amazonian coffee farms were deforesting land and using harmful chemicals, polluting local water supplies without proper safety measures, further impoverishing the farmers. This revelation highlighted the importance of eco-friendly innovation in transforming the coffee industry's impact on both the environment and local communities.
I realized that I came to the same conclusion that the largest coffee companies in the world have come to, which is that coffee is in trouble. To support the demand for coffee over the next 30 years means that coffee production has to triple.
A New Path Paved with Good Intentions 🌍
Switching lanes wasn't easy. Andy confessed there were moments he questioned his path. Jumping from something he knew inside out to uncharted waters was pretty scary. But what continued to push him was not wanting his kids to grow up on a messed-up planet.
His quest for beanless coffee had its ups and downs. "One of the biggest challenges was convincing others that this idea could work. Coffee without the bean? It sounded like science fiction," he laughs. "But every step forward, from our first successful prototype to the positive feedback from early tastings, validated my belief that we were on the right track."
Dreaming of a Greener Brew 🌟
Now, Andy's not just any entrepreneur; he's a green visionary, brewing up a storm for a sustainable future. His dream? To enjoy our coffee kicks without kicking the planet in the gut.
His pro tip for anyone looking to make a switch? "Start with your passion. The road might be uncertain at first, but the impact you can make is worth every step. It's never too late to contribute to a better world."
Big props to the young students at UW for motivating Andy to dedicate himself to a new way of life, and to his daughters who give him the drive to keep pushing forward every day!
Get to know Andy!
Favorite Book: Deep Survival: Who Lives, Who Dies, and Why by Laurence Gonzalez
Favorite Podcast: Slo Mo with Dr. Jed Diamond as the guest + Currently listening to
podcasts on hiking the Pacific Crest Trail
Favorite Mantra: Philosophy of Surrendering: Surrender to Win - “…sometimes for you to
actually succeed and move forward, you have to surrender to your current situation.”
Biggest Climate Role Model: Greta Thunberg (Young Climate Justice Activist), Al Gore (American Politician and Environmentalist), Doug Tompkins (Founder of North Face, conservationist, agriculturist, philanthropist)
Wishes people knew about the climate space: “I wish people knew how impactful their
nutrition choices are on the planet. We hear a lot in the food industry about how people haven't associated their impact on the planet with the food that they eat. Or, they're not willing to look closely at their food choices, and the impact their food choices have on the planet.”
Most excited about for the future: “I’m excited most about a future where we have a global consciousness around sustainability and treat our home planet the way it needs to be treated to sustain us and all other animals that live on this planet - in harmony - and establish long term viability together.”
🚀Atomo’s Beanless Revolution in Coffee
Atomo's Beanless Revolution in Coffee🚀
Enter Atomo: Unlike traditional coffee that relies on beans, Atomo's innovative approach uses upcycled ingredients to craft a beanless brew that mirrors the rich taste and caffeine kick of regular coffee, but with a significantly reduced environmental impact. This Seattle-based startup is at the forefront of the coffee industry's transformation.
The Beanless Breakthrough ☕
Atomo's secret lies in its unique concoction of farm-grown superfoods and upcycled components, which replicate the 28 compounds found in coffee beans. They aren’t stopping there; continuously looking to analyze new upcycled materials to use, Atomo is thinking outside the box and driving further innovation!
This revolutionary process offers a delicious alternative to conventional coffee. With Atomo, coffee lovers can enjoy their favorite espresso drinks without compromising on taste or their ecological footprint.
Here's a glimpse into their offerings:
Buying wholesale or at Gumption Coffee in Midtown NY (if you are in NY check it out!)
Coachella Latte Blend: A beanless masterpiece in both regular and decaf that delivers the traditional espresso experience in every sip.
What Sets Atomo Apart 🌟
Atomo's innovation extends beyond just the beanless concept; it's about creating a sustainable and ethical alternative to traditional coffee. By using 94% less water and reducing carbon emissions by 93%, Atomo is stirring a movement towards a more sustainable coffee industry.
Big Eco-Vision 🌍
Reduction in water use, carbon emissions, and no deforestation.
Upcycling ingredients for a sustainable coffee option.
A push towards shifting to a more eco-friendly coffee industry.
Exciting news in 2024 for Atomo!
Atomo’s Roastery is going live in Seattle!
Guess how much espresso it’s going to churn out? Up to 4 million pounds a year!
As they continue to grow and expand their product line, the impact of their beanless coffee is set to redefine what it means to enjoy a cup of joe!
We want to close it off with a little educational section and fun trivia!
📘 Coffee Innovation Quick Bits:
Upcycled Ingredients: Using discarded materials as resources to create new products.
Earth First Trivia (Answers in the next newsletter!)
Which Latin American country is the leading producer of coffee?
Although we mostly drink coffee from beans from just two species, how many species of coffee plants worldwide have been identified?
That's a wrap! Stay eco-savvy and catch you in the next one!
Earth First 🌍✌️
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