Can you live off coffee?Updated a month ago
Yes. Well, not you specifically, but the coffee berry borer (Hypothenemushampei) lives off nothing but coffee!
How, you might ask? It turns out that like most other living creatures, the coffee berry borer has a microbiome in its gut. Some species of bacteria that live there, such as Pseudomonas fulva, are masters at breaking down caffeine.
It’s really fascinating from an evolutionary standpoint as the beetle has evolved to live solely off coffee, but only because it has a certain bacteria in its intestines… lucky him because without it he’d probably have to live off tea and where’s the fun in that!?