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Soylent Coffee: Nootropics, Fat, Carbs, Protein -- But Will It Give You The Toots? (arstechnica.com)
An anonymous reader writes from a report via Ars Technica: Soylent has ventured in a new direction with its latest beverage: breakfast. Called Coffiest, the new offering has the same ingredient makeup, nutritional mix, and 47/33/20 percent fat/carb/protein calorie distribution as the 2.0 premixed version, but it also adds coffee flavoring, 150mg of caffeine per serving, and 75mg of the nootropic L-Theanine. According to Soylent founder Rob Rhinehart, a bottle of Coffiest supplies the drinker with about 400 kilocalories and about 20 percent of the daily recommended values for "all essential vitamins and minerals." "A lot of people are skipping breakfast," Rhinehart told Ars in a phone interview. "We wanted to provide a convenient and also really tasty option for them to enjoy in the morning." Additionally, the company will also be releasing a nutrition bar, called the Soylent Bar. This one will deliver 250 kilocalories per bar, and has a macronutrient breakdown of 38/43/19 percent fat/carb/protein. "Coffee flavor is extremely complex," Rhinehart told Ars. "The direction I gave was a little bit of a more darker, richer roast it's a little darker coffee. A little bit of cocoa powder, just a barely perceptible amount, but it rounds out the flavor nicely." "It was a huge challenge to develop a coffee flavor that would survive processing," he continued. "You can't take any risks with health or safety, so we have to eliminate any sources of contamination from the product and that involves heat. So we had some great food scientists and flavor scientists work out a flavor system that combines natural coffee extracts with an artificial flavor system. And it turned out pretty great." As for the toots, neither Coffiest nor the Soylent Bar will cause consumers to erupt with "horse-killing farts," a complaint made by many of Soylent's customers as well as Ars Technica writer Lee Hutchinson. For those interested in Soylent's latest concoction, Coffiest is available for purchase today at the Soylent site for about $40 for a pack of 12 servings (or $37.05 with a recurring subscription). The Soylent Bar will launch later for about $2 per bar. You can view Coffiest's nutrition facts here.
I won't buy Soylent's products because of the tiny, tiny chance that the company is run by psychopaths who thought "I've got a cool idea - let's make food products out of rendered fat from cadavers ... and just for the icing on the cake, we'll call it 'Soylent' - because it would be a hip joke and no one would ever believe we'd *really* do it."
Wasn't his original thing on soylent that he didn't care about taste and had no interest in food? Why is "getting the flavor right" now suddenly important. Surely the whole point of his venture is perverted by making something taste like coffee rather than fish oil and whatever the hell else goes into it.
Right. And these idiots used the name of a completely addictive beverage that, once hooked, condemns the drinker to a lifetime of consumerism ? I've heard of tongue in cheek, but jeez... why not just name it Liquid Heroin and be done with it ?
""...here's what makes this campaign great in my estimation - each sample of Coffiest contains three milligrams of a simple alkaloid. Nothing harmful. But definitely habit-forming. After ten weeks the customer is hooked for life. It would cost him at least five thousand dollars for a cure, so it's simpler for him to go right on drinking Coffiest - three cups with every meal and a pot beside his bed at night, just as it says on the jar.""
"horse-killing farts" is a rather loose standard. I'm thinking "cubicle clearing fart" would be more useful.
> I can't digest soy, and I make sure to bring that up every chance I get,
if you want to stop bringing it up, then stop trying to eat it.
I dont mind meal replacements. there are several used institutionally and in hospitals that never get this much publicity but have been around for years. My biggest concern however is our growing dependence upon multinational and branded consumer food companies to provide replacements for basic food staples. most americans already rely implicitly on betty crocker and stouffers to fill in the blanks of their culinary Repertoire. For the past 20 years most thanksgivings in america have been an olympic feast of multibillion dollar corporate sponsored brands of pre-cooked, processed foods that emerge at the supermarket shelf unaccountably and ubiquitously.
Will the soylent generation know how to steam rice, or properly cook poultry? could they prepare porridge or vegetables, or even remember how to cook dry beans? Does soylent foster an even greater social divide in the 21st century by short-circuiting the social past-time of cooking and eating together? how will this generation cope when there is no soylent?
Good people go to bed earlier.
Because it makes things taste better, and is harmless in the vast majority of people ? And chances are, it's not the cocoa per se, but the theobromine in the cocoa. . .
Never mind the color - is it people?
You missed the better SF reference. Coffiest is from The Space Merchants, by Pohl and Kornbluth, and it is one of the most brilliant satires of the modern progression towards multinational corporate world control ever written. Highly recommended...
Even when the experts all agree, they may well be mistaken. --- Bertrand Russell.
As a once in a blue moon thing to eat/drink, these Soylent products are alright. However, I drink a cup of coffee every day. I shudder to think what the estrogenic effects of consuming vast amounts of soy protein daily are. Not to mention the other terrible ingredients listed in there. Maltodextrin is a simple sugar. Why not use a sugar like turbinado?
You'd be better off getting a casein/whey protein shake and mixing it with fruit, some nut butter (hehe), and some fibrous substance like psyllium as a meal replacement drink. Sure it's not vegan or lactose tolerant, but who really cares what vegans feel.
I'll pass on this.
I think they are talking about a fictional product from the 1952 novel The Space Merchants by Frederik Pohl, after which the real product in the OP was named.
I mean really, we aren't that far off from it when we start eating this kind of heavily processed food. Why not just mix this stuff into solids and throw it in a bag and eat it out of a bowl?
It is not that hard to cook simple meals. Heck, cook up a big pot of something on one day, and eat leftovers if you are short on time. At least you know what is in it, and it is going to be much, much cheaper. I just cooked up a big pot of Himalayan bahl dat (lentils) and some spiced rice last night and I would be surprised if it took me 15 minutes of effort. I now have a healthy breakfast (this is actually what the Himalayans eat) for the week that costs me about 3 dollars. Throw a piece of chicken on the grill. How long does that take?
I am really surprised this kind of over processed food is even slightly popular in this day and age.
There were many different flavors of soylent, it's just that the green one tasted best, was highest in demand, and happened to be made of people.
I feel sorry for people that don't drink, because when they get up in the morning, that's as good as they're gonna feel
and then cigarettes that make me drink more Coffiest which in turn makes me drink more Popsi and the Cycle of Consumption completes (doesn't anyone get the reference? am I just too old?)
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Gotta love them using the name Coffiest. It's a name from a Frederik Pohl and Cyril Kornbluth science fiction book that lampooned marketing and consumers, "The Space Merchants". Here's a quote... "...here's what makes this campaign great in my estimation - each sample of Coffiest contains three milligrams of a simple alkaloid. Nothing harmful. But definitely habit-forming. After ten weeks the customer is hooked for life. It would cost him at least five thousand dollars for a cure, so it's simpler for him to go right on drinking Coffiest - three cups with every meal and a pot beside his bed at night, just as it says on the jar."
There is no God, and Dirac is his prophet.
You idiot. It's Got Electrolytes.
This sounds interesting, but what about the growing number of people are allergic to Soy?
They can eat people instead.
"That's the way to do it" - Punch
I understand that this has proteins and is somewhat balanced but really, adult humans shouldn't be drinking ANY digestible carbs. Carbs should come from solid food, preferably in complex form.
Digestible carbs from liquids are handled differently in the body than they are in solid form, they are more readily available for breakdown and digestion. The occasional fruit juice or milk isn't going to kill you, but make a habit of drinking carbs every day (such as this breakfast drink) and you could be harming your kidneys.
"That's the way to do it" - Punch
Soy have been used as human food for a long time (before written history) without problems - so you are wrong.
Many kinds of food that really are toxic can be safe to eat when cooked (some mushrooms, some meats) - so you are wrong again.
The third claim depends on how you define safe, but is in general false as e.g. acrylamide is created when heating starch above a certain temperature - yet another wrong claim.
0/3 - care to play again?
I understand your point, you are talking about way overpriced coffee shops. However, most places I buy coffee it is about $10 for a 24oz can. Makes about 20 pots containing 10 cups each. So about $0.05 / cup.