Coffee on Mars with Peter Giuliano

Could we actually grow coffee on Mars?

And even if we could, would it be worth the space, water, energy, and years of patience required to get a single coffee plant producing?

This month on Everyday Mars, I’m joined by Peter Giuliano, Senior Advisor for Scientific Communication and Engagement Strategy at the Specialty Coffee Association and one of the world’s leading voices on coffee science.

Peter has spent decades studying coffee from nearly every angle, from agriculture and flavor to consumer behavior, coffee culture, and the strange but remarkably durable role this drink plays in human life.

And Mars presents a fascinating problem.

Coffee is not exactly the ideal space crop. It can be environmentally finicky, takes years to mature, occupies a surprising amount of room, and produces relatively little usable coffee for the resources required.

So why bring it?

Because coffee has never just been about caffeine.

In our conversation, Peter explains how coffee became tied to stimulation, social connection, flavor, ritual, and hospitality, and why those qualities could become even more valuable in isolated settlements far from Earth.

We talk about what makes good and bad coffee, growing coffee in controlled environments, instant coffee in space, flavor changes during spaceflight, the engineering behind drinking from a cup in microgravity, the possibility of synthetic coffee aromas, and what the first café on Mars might actually look like.

And because a Martian sol gives us roughly 39 minutes beyond an Earth day, we also make what I believe is an extremely reasonable proposal:

Make it the official Martian coffee break.

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