Innovation often emerges from the most unexpected of places, and the story of Waved Technology is no exception. What began as an exploration of electromagnetic waves in the industrial marine sector has now blossomed into a revolutionary method for elevating beverages, coffee among them.
Gary Ong, the visionary behind Waved, has not only transformed how we experience coffee but has redefined the very boundaries of what’s possible in beverage crafting with his groundbreaking technology.
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GARY ONG | Founder Waved Technology
photo: gary ong doc. |
Waved Technology’s influence reaches far beyond the laboratory, making ripples on the world stage of coffee competitions.
Gary’s innovation was a driving force behind Jack Simpson’s triumph at the Australia Barista Championship, and it propelled him to the runner-up position at the 2024 World Barista Championship in South Korea.
In this interview, Gary takes us through his journey from green technology to the heart of the coffee industry, revealing how ultra-low frequency waves can unlock new depths of flavor, texture, and longevity in every cup. Discover how Waved Technology is set to reshape the coffee industry, from the farm to your cup.
HUDES: How did you first come up with the idea of using Waved Technology to alter beverages?
GARY: The idea of Waved really came about by chance. It was 2021 and we were just coming out of COVID-19. I had just left my corporate job as a banker to focus on entrepreneurial endeavors.
One of the first projects I took on was to help out in my family’s green technology business with branding and marketing. At that point, there were many exploratory experiments being run to seek out practical applications we could diversify our core technology into.
Among those experiments were experiments in beverages. That was when we found practical benefits from introducing waves to water and other beverages, such as energized water/polar molecules without heat generation, measurable generated antioxidants, and molecular binding. That was the point I decided to start Waved in late 2021 to explore impactful applications with our technology throughout the entire beverage value chain.
HUDES: What was the initial application, and how did you discover that it could be applied to coffee?
GARY: The initial applications this 23-year-old technology powered were really in the industrial marine sector. They were applications such as ballast water disinfection, cooling water disinfection, scaling and corrosion control, algae growth control, bio-fouling control, and more.
The core technology lies in ultra-low frequency electromagnetic waves. We generate electromagnetic waves by emitting electrical currents at a specified ultra-low range of frequencies so they would energize water and polar molecules vibrationally.
This is similar to microwaves, as microwaves also energize water molecules, but because it is at a higher frequency, it creates a more violent response from the water molecules. That is why heat is generated in the process and food can be heated up by microwaves.
Our waves can energize water and polar molecules vibrationally without generating much heat. This creates interesting follow-on effects. Firstly, it can generate free-donating electrons that act as antioxidants. Secondly, it encourages polar molecules to bind together through weak hydrogen bonding, creating a varied sensory experience.
When I discovered these follow-on effects, I knew this would be really interesting in a segment such as beverages. I started experimenting with several beverages from alcoholic beverages such as wine and whiskey to non-alcoholic ones like water, coffee, tea, and juices. I even filed a patent as a result of all these experiments to solidify a series of inventive steps to enhance beverage-making with ultra-low frequency electromagnetic waves.
HUDES: Could you walk us through the research and development process that led to Waved Technology being used in coffee?
GARY: The research and development process took about 1.5 years before we started using Waved in coffee properly. It followed this order:
-We were able to measure the energy state of the water and polar molecules, which were significantly higher after being Waved.
-We could generate free-donating electrons or antioxidants from just water molecules.
-We found that molecular binding was involved in affecting sensory elevation in beverages.
- We moved on to juices because I wanted a concrete, objective benefit, such as extending shelf life without pasteurization or high pressure. After introducing waves to juices, we successfully increased raw juice shelf life to up to two weeks, compared to the usual three to five days.
With both beneficial effects, antioxidizing and molecular binding, confirmed, I felt ready to enter a more widespread beverage category. Being a coffee lover, I looked into coffee immediately. From a scientific perspective, coffee would greatly benefit from this technology since its aromas and flavors are susceptible to oxidation. Additionally, Waved Technology has the potential to impact the entire value chain, given its ability to interact with anything involving water.
HUDES: What were the biggest challenges you faced when trying to adapt Waved for coffee?
GARY: There was one big challenge I faced at first when I started to apply our technology in coffee. Firstly, it was with statistical consistency. As you know, the sheer number of variables involved in brewing a good cup is just really high. If you really want to take into account most things, you would have to start at the source from varietals, origins and processing methods.
When you come down the chain, you would have to consider the roasting parameters, the brewing methods and parameters. At each point, it requires consistency so that the data collected will be consistent throughout for proper observations and deductions. This was one of my biggest challenges.
HUDES: How did you overcome the initial skepticism or technical hurdles in applying this technology to a delicate product like coffee?
GARY: There were not many technical hurdles to get past, to be honest, when it came to applying Waved’s technology to coffee. Coffee as a beverage is very responsive to our waves. It is mostly water and full of polar molecules from its chemical composition.
Furthermore, we had more than 23 years of engineering experience backing the build of our machines to make waves in coffee. The skepticism and cynicism on the other hand was very real.
Coffee itself is the backbone of cultures. It affects many people’s livelihoods and to many people, it is a sacred ritual. So, naturally coffee will have some passionate and fanatical following behind it. Along with it would be a handful of people with the notion of how something should and must be done a certain way.
If it has been done for decades and it works, let’s not change it. It is not wrong to believe in that notion. It just does not support innovations particularly strongly. So, how we overcame the skepticism was through patient and consistent showcasing and gaining of traction, one before-Waved and after-Waved tasting experience at a time.
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photo: waved technology doc.
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This strategy has proven effective for us as we recently partnered with Jack Simpson with Axil Coffee Roasters to win the Australia Barista Championship 2024 and achieve 2nd place at the World Barista Championship 2024.
HUDES: Was there a particular moment or breakthrough that convinced you that Waved technology would have a significant impact on the coffee industry?
GARY: How I define impact is in the number of human beings this technology could benefit, in terms of helping them do what they do better. It can be across the entire value chain from the producer to roaster and cafes.
So, for me, the moment that really was a significant one was in Melbourne when we first cupped our Waved-processed coffee samples. We had just gotten back from Colombia processing some extremely small experimental lots to gauge if there is any potential in enhancing certain processing steps with waves.
More than 90% of the cuppers preferred Waved-processed coffee and the comments revolved around “higher flavour clarity”, “juicier”, “sweeter” and “fruitier”. This was such encouraging result because if we could impact coffee processing with waves at scale, this would allow us to reach the cups of millions of people. That to me is a significant impact.
HUDES: What was the most difficult aspect of scaling this technology for commercial use?
GARY: The most difficult aspect would be cost of adoption. With any budding technology, it is always the most expensive when it is first launched. The ironic part is that only with adoption, will the cost start to fall. Hence, the initial adopters have to be true believers and pioneers at the bleeding edge of pushing the boundaries of coffee quality. We are working really hard to increase the number in this group for us.
HUDES: What makes Waved technology so effective in altering the structure and flavor of espresso and milk-based coffees?
GARY: I’d attribute it to the choice of beverage subject and also the flexibility of our engineering. Firstly, the subject we’re waving has to be responsive to our technology. Secondly, we also have to be able to build machines that are capable of sending waves in an effective manner that does not compromise the integrity of the beverage itself.
Our ultra-low frequency electromagnetic waves can energise water and polar molecules vibrationally. We must have done enough research in this so that we can ensure that the subject does contain a lot of these molecules such that it will respond well to our waves.
Espressos, dairy milks and even plant milks do contain plenty of these molecules and they react very well with our technology. Next, we needed to ensure that our modes of waving, which is determined by the machines we use, are suitable for that particular beverage subject.
Our machines, we call them Wavemakers, can perform 2 types of waving - contact waving and contactless waving. Contact-waving allows us to obtain beneficial effects within seconds but we will need to have the emitter get into contact with the liquid. While contactless waving allows us to obtain beneficial effects in an hour or 2, but without even breaking the seal or packaging.
HUDES: Can Waved technology be applied to filter coffee, or is it more suited for espresso and milk-based drinks?
GARY: Our Waved technology can certainly be applied to filter coffee as well. It is very effective for it as well. Some beneficial effects we get would be enhanced taste longevity, more consistent flavour notes whilst transiting from hot to cold, higher fruity aromas and acidity, lower bitterness and higher sweetness.
HUDES: How do you ensure consistency in flavor and quality when using Waved technology across different coffee varieties?
GARY: Ensuring consistency in flavour and quality is really easy with our technology. Our technology does not fundamentally alter various coffee’s varieties’ flavours. It simply cleans up the noise in the flavours by smoothening the tactile experience, lowering the bitterness and lifting the fruity acidity or sweetness up a little.
This can boost your taste and tactile experience but you would still fundamentally taste the same coffee and calibrate the coffee the same way. Now, how much the taste and tactile experiences are lifted by, that would be subjective. To some, they can taste completely different, while to others, their differences may be minuscule.
HUDES: Do you see potential for Waved technology to be used during the coffee farming or roasting process, beyond brewing?
GARY: Definitely. In a big way. Our vision is to make waves to elevate beverage quality, from farm to cup. We started with improving coffee at the brewing stage with water and post-brewing with our post-extraction waving.
We slowly worked our way up to the pre-roasting stage where we would wave green coffee beans to prepare them for roasting. We’ve seen very positive results from that such as the roasted beans having a longer prime drinking span and lifted flavour attributes all around.
Mentioned briefly earlier, I also just returned from a trip to Colombia doing some experimental processing in collaboration with Lohas Beans and Jack Simpson. We’ve also had positive results from these tests. We’re now gearing up to scale up our batch size for Waved-processed coffee and measure more parameters such as how these processed beans stabilise over time.
HUDES: What is your vision for the future of Waved technology in the coffee industry?
GARY: My vision for Waved in the coffee industry is for anything Waved to be synonymous with “better”. Across the value chain, from farm to cup, all industry professionals and consumers will automatically equate to anything Waved as “improved", "enhanced" and “better".
HUDES: Do you think this technology could one day be widely adopted by cafes and roasters around the world?
GARY: Definitely. With the versatility of this technology and our capability to build different machines to be able to fit various practical applications from farm to cup, I cannot see how this technology will not be able to add value to cafes and roasters around the world. Even if these cafes or roasters do not own any Wavemakers, they may still roast and serve Waved-processed coffee beans. At our potential, Waved will become ubiquitous.
HUDES: Are there any upcoming developments or innovations you're working on that will further enhance the impact of Waved technology in beverages?
GARY: Recently we concluded a study with Temasek Polytechnic’s Center for Research & Opportunities in Plant Science (CROPS) to understand how Waved water that is anti-oxidising can help to protect crop quality post-harvest.
We’ve had really positive results from that such as confirming our Waved water can indeed be protective in nature against oxidative degradation, and that our anti-oxidising water can help minimise yield losses in crop. I’m currently pushing for even more innovations and concrete benefits up the value chain in agriculture which will have a direct impact on coffee growing and processing.
So far, in coffee-processing, we’ve done experiments with disinfection, fermentation acceleration and termination, cellulose softening, etc. However, we have not tried all of the promising ideas yet, for example, doing a traditional washed process using anti-oxidising water that protects the beans from oxidising as you process. That could be a game-changer when it comes to flavour preservation. We’re only at the tip of the iceberg when it comes to making waves from farm to cup. We’re just getting started. (hudes)
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