Beanless coffee start-up Northern Wonder lands first retail distribution deal

Northern Wonder’s Coffee-Free Coffee range is now available in over 500 Albert Heijn supermarket stores across the Netherlands, with the business seeking investment to develop wholebean products

Co-Founder David Klingen with Northern Wonder’s Coffee-Free Coffee products | Photo credit: Northern Wonder

Beanless coffee start-up Northern Wonder has launched its Coffee-Free Coffee retail range across 534 Albert Heijn supermarket stores in the Netherlands. 

 

Founded in Ede in 2021, Northern Wonder manufactures a sustainable coffee alternative without coffee beans or other ‘tropical ingredients’. Coffee-Free Coffee is made using lupine beans, chickpeas and blackcurrants.  

 

The beanless coffee has a significantly smaller environmental footprint than regular coffee, according to Northern Wonder, requiring 95% less water per cup and emitting 76% less CO2 during production. 

Albert Heijn, the largest supermarket chain in the Netherlands with more than 1,100 stores, is selling both caffeinated and decaffeinated Coffee-Free Coffee in ground and compostable Nespresso-compatible capsule formats. 

Northern Wonder, which also sells its products online, said its partnership with Albert Heijn will increase interest in the concept and is expected to be followed by a second retail partnership soon. 

“We are super proud that Northern Wonder can now be found on the shelves of Dutch leading retailer Albert Heijn, making it easy for everyone to try this coffee alternative. If all coffee drinkers replaced just one cup a day with Coffee-Free Coffee, we would make a huge difference for the rainforest,” said David Klingen, Co-Founder, Northern Wonder. 

Alongside further roll-out of its ground and capsule range, Northern Wonder is also developing ‘coffee-like whole beans’. Klingen said manufacturing whole beans is necessary from both a commercial and technological point of view. 

“On the one hand it makes it possible to serve coffee-free coffee using existing ‘wholebean coffee machines’. And, as importantly, pressed beans make it possible to lock in volatile coffee-like aromas so they are at full quality at the moment of grinding and brewing, just like what happens with traditional coffee,” he added. 

Northern Wonder is currently seeking investment to enable ‘fine-tuning’ of its wholebean technology.