NUS team reveals new probiotic coffee, tea

The team aims to commercialise the coffee recipe with industry partners.

Researchers from the National University of Singapore (NUS) have created new variants of coffee and tea drinks loaded with gut-friendly, live probiotics.

According to a media release, the NUS team has filed a patent for the probiotic coffee recipe and aims to collaborate with industry partners in commercialising it.

“Supervised by associate professor Liu Shao Quan from the department of food science and technology at the faculty of science, the two doctoral students who worked on these two new beverages assert that their drinks have a great taste, and can be stored chilled or at room temperature for more than 14 weeks without compromising on their probiotic viability,” NUS added.

Doctoral student Wang Rui, creator of the new probiotic tea, has added nutrients into a tea infusion, followed by select, specific probiotics.

“The probiotic tea tastes like fruit tea with a little bit [of] acidity, and a similar mouthfeel to the original tea. Drinkers can add sweeteners and milk, or cream, based on their preferences,” she said.

Meanwhile, the new probiotic coffee has been made by adding select nutrients to brewed coffee, followed by carefully chosen probiotics. Its creator, Alcine Chan, said: “The formulation is tricky, especially relating to the type and amount of nutrients added, and the probiotic combination. Not every type of probiotic can grow in coffee brews. Adding too few nutrients will not enable probiotic growth while adding too many nutrients will give an unpleasant taste.”