Early-stage food-tech project BAREJAW has opened a pre-launch page on Kickstarter for a dairy-free drink made with yeast-derived protein, using crowdfunding to gauge consumer interest before formulation work is complete.
The drink is being developed for coffee, cereal and cooking. The pre-launch page lets backers sign up to be notified when the campaign goes live. No funding target, launch date, pricing or nutritional data has been published so far.
BAREJAW founder Carmine Vaccaro presents yeast protein as a primary base for the drink and as the product’s main point of difference in a crowded milk alternatives category, with many brands focusing on oat, soy, pea or nut bases.
Academic research has been building a case for the ingredient. Researchers at the University of Castilla-La Mancha recently screened 27 yeast strains and selected 10 as suitable for alternative protein products, pointing to yeast’s lower land and water requirements compared with soy or pea.
BAREJAW’s campaign page describes a drink with a neutral taste and smooth texture. Vaccaro said these targets remain subject to testing, with sensory performance, heat stability and pilot-scale production still under review. Heat stability matters for any drink positioned for coffee, where curdling and separation are common problems for dairy-free products.
“The project is currently progressing through formulation and technical validation, including sensory, heat-stability and pilot-scale questions, so we are keeping product claims appropriately provisional until that work is completed,” said Vaccaro.
