Coffee is big business, but often smaller coffee growers are dependant on others in the supply chain to sell their produce to the big roasters. Now, a new coffee marketplace, Era of We, has launched a marketplace solution for everyone in the global coffee supply chain. Coffee drinkers can connect to the farmer who made their coffee, and roasters can buy green coffee directly from farmers.
The aim is a global marketplace and social networking space that will promote direct relationships between coffee estates (farmers), facilitators, roasters and consumers and improve traceability of the brew through a new open ecosystem. Löfbergs, one of the largest family-owned coffee roasters in the Nordic countries, will debut as the first coffee roaster on the platform.
The platform will empower coffee growers, regardless of size, to build their own coffee brands and market directly to both roasters and consumers, thus creating a more efficient and equitable supply chain where farmers can set their own prices. Despite the boom in value downstream, coffee growers and estates continue to face an unprecedented cost-squeeze crisis that threatens global supply and threatens the livelihoods of small-scale farmers around the world. Reports suggest nearly 61% of producers sell their coffee at prices below the cost of production – leaving many farmers struggling to survive. As a result, the children of these farmers are unwilling to continue the trade, which puts coffee at a risk for labour shortage and jeopardises the world’s supply of coffee.
“We want to democratise the supply chain through transparency and collaboration. By helping farmers create individual brands based on their distinct coffee properties, Era of We will help increase the overall value of coffee estates.”
– Martin Löfberg, founder and chairman, Era of We
This will be of particular interest to micro-roasters selling Coffee on marketplaces such as Yumbles and Notonthehighstreet. It gives you the ability not only to supply a high end product, but enables you enahance your brand by telling a story featuring the specific farmers and producers that you source your beans from.
Löfberg helped develop the Era of We concept to protect the future of coffee. He spent the last decade working with coffee farmers across the major coffee producing nations in South and Central America, East Africa and Asia, and he learned first-hand the state of the industry and what’s at stake. The Era of We was created to move the industry to a balanced and more income-sustainable model for the growers and secure the long-term future of coffee production.
For roasters, the platform will unlock a range of new business opportunities through direct access to relationship building with outstanding, yet unknown, coffee estates from around the world. The platform will be a one-stop-shop to understand ongoing coffee estate and consumer trends, product innovations and prices, and bringing all of that information together to help develop and grow new opportunities – with the added benefit of marketing their own brands to a global audience.
“Roasters and roaster clients are constantly on the lookout for new and exciting coffee estates and products to enhance their own brand to give consumers the best possible experience – unique, delicious coffee with a traceable story. Era of We provides roasters and roaster clients with infinite new business opportunities through direct access to exceptional estates around the world as a complement to the relationships they already have in place.”
– Fredrik Nilsson, Acting CEO, Löfbergs
Era of We also serves as a platform for consumers who identify as coffee aficionados to discuss, learn and experience coffee in a new way.
Era of We will launch first in Sweden in June, then it will roll out in other countries. Roasters can gain access to a customised suite of Era of We services and capabilities via monthly subscription. Coffee estates, consumers, and facilitators can enjoy complimentary subscription options.
