How Singapore start-up Prefer makes Asia’s first bean-free coffee from repurposing food by-products

We speak to founders Jake Berber and Tan Ding Jie to find out what goes into making a sustainable coffee alternative of the future

Today, coffee is a hot commodity. More than 2.25 billion cups are consumed worldwide every day, signalling an upward trajectory for the demand for coffee year after year. But with estimates showing that by 2050, climate change, if left unaddressed, will likely reduce 50 per cent of arable farmlands currently used for coffee production, one just can’t help to think of how will the world cope with supplying and appeasing the legions of coffee-appreciating demographics around the world.

At the launch of Prefer, a sustainable bioflavours start-up made up of Texan-born former neuroscientist Jake Berber and Singaporean food scientist Tan Ding Jie, Tatler Dining got a glimpse into what the future of coffee may perhaps look like. The product? Asia and Singapore’s first-and-only bean-free “coffee”.

Above Food by-products used in the making of bean-free coffee

So what goes into making bean-free “coffee”? Made by repurposing food by-products—think day-old Gardenia bread, soya bean pulp from local soybean chain Mr Bean, and spent barley grains from local breweries such as Brewerkz—the upcycled product goes through a series of fermentation, blending and roasting processes. It all takes about a 48-hour process as opposed to an average five-year harvest period for newly planted coffee trees to bear their first crop.

During the demonstration, the bean-less alternative brews just like coffee. “It works the same as regular coffee grounds which business operators really appreciate as they won’t need to make changes to their workflows,” says Berber. It is also caffeine-free but one has the option to request for a spike of caffeine that is extracted from tea. For now, “the product is best enjoyed with milk, whether dairy or plant-based”, adds Tan when asked about enjoying it on its own. “We’re still improving our current formula. But at this stage, we’ve had bartenders tell us that it makes a delicious espresso martini.”

Above Prefer demonstration

Above Prefer oat milk latte

We tasted two versions of Prefer’s decaffeinated coffee during the launch: an espresso tonic, which displayed the bitterness of coffee and some sweetness from the tonic; and an oat milk latte, in which the “coffee” was overshadowed by the nuttiness of oat milk. On public reception, Berber shares, “The most common feedback we hear is that the flavour is nutty and chocolatey. While some still don’t think it tastes exactly like coffee, we knew from the beginning that our product would not appeal to everyone’s taste”. Prefer is now present at 14 establishments including Dough, Brash Boys, First Story Cafe, Foreword Coffee Roasters, and Parched by Parchmen.

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Above Texan-born former neuroscientist Jake Berber and Singaporean food scientist Tan Ding Jie holding up Prefer cold brews

As for the local start-up, it all came to fruition because of a chance encounter. The duo first connected at Entrepreneur First, a local food accelerator programme, where they sparked a mutual desire to leverage fermentation biotechnology in alleviating today’s booming coffee industry—one which is threatened by climate change but also responsible for it. “This hasn't been done before so we had to start from scratch. We screened for hundreds of potential feedstocks and microbes before landing on the formulation we use today,” says Tan, who handles the bulk of research and development at Prefer, tapping into his experience with innovating products for Jigger & Pony Group and Labyrinth via Starter Culture.

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Berber, on the other hand, has experience in the investment sector which he gained during his time in food and med tech companies, and will oversee the dollars and cents. “The ultimate ambition of Prefer is to create a portfolio of flavours that are threatened by climate change,” he quips. “There’s a long list of ingredients but we’ve identified cacao, vanilla, hazelnut, and citrus as potential candidates for development.”

Most recently, Prefer raised USD$ 2 million in seed funding for its new manufacturing facility to expand its distribution channels across Southeast Asian markets. Looking ahead, the pair concurs that “The next challenge is to scale our production to serve the demand coming in from the region and beyond”.

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Topics

Coffee Bean-less coffee Coffee alternative Prefer Jake Berber Tan Ding Jie

Tatler Asia

How Singapore start-up Prefer makes Asia’s first bean-free coffee from repurposing food by-products