Transparency from farm to cup
Brooklyn Roasting Company has a simple mission: to source and serve sustainable, ethically produced coffee. It sounds easy, but the journey from mountaintop to countertop is long. Gaps in accountability and transparency open the door to delays and fraud. Enter IBM Blockchain.
We’ve brought the data behind Brooklyn Roasting Company’s Ethiopian Yirgacheffe coffee onto a blockchain—giving you a taste of a traceable, trackable coffee trade. See how blockchain can help farmers, roasters, and everyone in between bring you a fresher, fairer cup.
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Enter your drink’s unique cup ID to view your coffee’s journey as tracked by blockchain.
In Ethiopia, Banko Gotiti co-op farmers harvest ripe Yirgacheffe coffee. Through their union, the YCFCU, they sell the sun-dried beans to importer Royal Coffee. The coffee is organic and Fair Trade certified.
A Fair Trade premium of $.20/pound is directed back to the community to invest in areas of need, such as local classrooms.
We’ve brought Fair Trade’s 2016 audit of the premium investment onto the blockchain, helping make it visible to the entire network.
In Ethiopia, Banko Gotiti co-op farmers harvest ripe Yirgacheffe coffee. Through their union, the YCFCU, they sell the sun-dried beans to importer Royal Coffee. The coffee is organic and Fair Trade certified.
A Fair Trade premium of $.20/pound is directed back to the community to invest in areas of need, such as local classrooms.
We’ve brought Fair Trade’s 2016 audit of the premium investment onto the blockchain, helping make it visible to the entire network.
The bags of Yirgacheffe beans travel to Djibouti, where they are loaded onto a cargo ship bound for Newark, New Jersey.
At port, the coffee is logged in a packing list, which records the cargo’s weight, destination, and identifying markings.
How do you know your single-origin coffee is the real deal? With shipment details on a blockchain, the chain of custody is transparent, helping validate the contents of cargo between multiple parties.
The bags of Yirgacheffe beans travel to Djibouti, where they are loaded onto a cargo ship bound for Newark, New Jersey.
At port, the coffee is logged in a packing list, which records the cargo’s weight, destination, and identifying markings.
How do you know your single-origin coffee is the real deal? With shipment details on a blockchain, the chain of custody is transparent, helping validate the contents of cargo between multiple parties.
Two weeks later, the Yirgacheffe beans arrive in Newark, New Jersey, traveling from port to Royal Coffee’s warehouses before they’re distributed to Brooklyn Roasting Company.
The coffee is weighed and checked for damage. When this data lives on a blockchain, all parties can be promptly notified if the condition of the coffee cargo has changed since export.
Another blockchain-backed quality check? IBM Food Trust is a collaborative solution created to efficiently and securely trace food during each step of the food supply. In one pilot, we have shown we can trace a packet of sliced mangoes from store back to the farm in 2.2 seconds compared to 7 days using traditional methods.
See how Food Trust is creating transparency across food supply chains
Two weeks later, the Yirgacheffe beans arrive in Newark, New Jersey, traveling from port to Royal Coffee’s warehouses before they’re distributed to Brooklyn Roasting Company.
The coffee is weighed and checked for damage. When this data lives on a blockchain, all parties can be promptly notified if the condition of the coffee cargo has changed since export.
Another blockchain-backed quality check? IBM Food Trust is a collaborative solution created to efficiently and securely trace food during each step of the food supply. In one pilot, we have shown we can trace a packet of sliced mangoes from store back to the farm in 2.2 seconds compared to 7 days using traditional methods.
See how Food Trust is creating transparency across food supply chains
Brooklyn Roasting Company evaluates the Yirgacheffe beans, grading a sample roast based on its body, sweetness, acidity, flavor, and aftertaste—a process called cupping.
With cupping data hosted on a blockchain, roasters could easily share tasting notes with coffee growers, providing valuable feedback on their crop. Growers can adjust farming practices in response.
Cupping data is highly proprietary information. It reveals what makes coffee special. Blockchain is a secured way to share sensitive data between parties.
Brooklyn Roasting Company evaluates the Yirgacheffe beans, grading a sample roast based on its body, sweetness, acidity, flavor, and aftertaste—a process called cupping.
With cupping data hosted on a blockchain, roasters could easily share tasting notes with coffee growers, providing valuable feedback on their crop. Growers can adjust farming practices in response.
Cupping data is highly proprietary information. It reveals what makes coffee special. Blockchain is a secured way to share sensitive data between parties.
What is blockchain?
Blockchain is a shared ledger technology poised to revolutionize the way the world works.
