Meet the Asian entrepreneurs tackling climate change with innovative lab-grown beverages
At the age of 26, former neuroscience major, Jake Berber has introduced one of the biggest products in the beverage market.
Together with his co-founder and food scientist, Ding Jie Tan, they have discovered a way to tackle the devastating effects of climate change on cash crops including coffee and cacao.
According to the National Geographic, the world’s agricultural landscape is changing rapidly and by 2050, things will look very different than it looks now.
Faced with these daunting predictions, Berber began exploring alternatives to traditional coffee farming, leading to the creation of Prefer, a bean-free coffee product.
“My motivation actually comes from a climate perspective and I see this as doing my part in, in fighting climate change,” he told GSW in an interview.
“We came across some really startling issues in the coffee industry about how the price is rising. Coffee is under an existential threat. And that's because the supply is decreasing due to climate change and other factors and the demand on the rise because coffee is becoming more interesting for markets like China and India in particular. So the combination of all that really means that there is a huge gap in the market to solve,” he added.
After a year and a half of research and development, the first sample of Prefer was produced. Today, the company supplies 14 outlets across Singapore.
Berber recounted the journey, “We spent the first year and a half in research and development. First out of his (Ding Jie Tan’s) kitchen, trying to roast stuff on his own stove and then we were able to move into a small bench scale in the lab. And now we are building out our pilot facility where we're going to be able to make tons of coffee on a monthly basis,” Berber noted.
Beyond coffee, Prefer is looking to future-proof other flavours including cacao, hazelnut and vanilla to ensure affordability and sustainability amidst climate change threats.
“The problem that we're solving is that there are many different food beverages, crops, flavours that are being threatened by climate change. And so our whole mission is to future-proof these products that we know and love by making them in a more affordable and a more sustainable way just using our fermentation technology rather than relying on traditional agriculture.
