Coffee for good
- Coffee plants take 5 years to bear fruit. Going beanless gets your coffee to the table in 48 hours!
- What’s more? Coffee has the sixth highest carbon footprint globally at 29kg of carbon dioxide emissions per kilogram of coffee beans produced. We’re reducing this thanks to the shared love for coffee between co-founders Jake Berber and Ding Jie Tan, nicknamed ‘Prince of Fermentation’.
- Together, they offer beanless coffee through their 500-backed foodtech startup, Prefer, which produces fresh coffee grounds and bottled cold brew coffee by upcycling old Gardenia bread, soybean pulp from Mr. Bean, and spent barley grains from local breweries. These ingredients are then blended and fermented before being roasted in an oven for aroma and flavor.
- Currently, Prefer produces about 50kg of coffee a month, and Prefer coffee is served at 14 F&B outlets in Singapore. Jake and Ding Jie are searching for a manufacturing facility to expand production capabilities to serve customers across Southeast Asia, starting with Manila this year.
- Jake shared, “Our technology is scalable with readily available ingredients and accessible equipment. It is also very easy for companies to try Prefer coffee because the grounds are compatible with existing coffee-making machines, and cafes don’t incur additional costs when they switch to our brand.”
- Beyond coffee, the duo wants to replicate the flavors of other crops threatened by climate change, such as cacao, vanilla, hazelnut, and citrus fruit. Jake added, “We want to recreate a portfolio of different foods that we love in a more sustainable and affordable manner.”
- Read the full story on The Peak.
