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Partnerships Turn Local into Global

iDE and Queen City are creating a more equitable value chain that respects coffee farmers


iDE is fortunate to be headquartered in Denver, Colorado for many reasons but one we appreciate nearly every morning is our proximity to great coffee. Queen City Collective Coffee has one of its three locations just down the block from our offices and it’s one of our favorite places to hold meetings and drink amazing coffee.

We want to use important moments like Colorado Gives Day to highlight our partnership. Together, we’re increasing livelihood opportunities for coffee farmers around the world. Stop into a Queen City store to taste coffee grown by our Honduran farmer partners, and learn about the five members in our blockchain coffee bean project.

Support Equitable Coffee Farming Around the World From Colorado

When you support iDE, you are a part of the global movement powering small-holder coffee farmers.

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iDE is dedicated to ending poverty by powering small-scale entrepreneurs and building robust market ecosystems that are financially competitive, resilient to changing climates, and inclusive of marginalized people. We work with coffee farmers to help them grow higher quality coffee beans and connect to reliable, trustworthy buyers, including Queen City Collective Coffee.

Queen City Collective Coffee is a local roastery founded by the Byington brothers, who spent a decade before opening their business coordinating humanitarian programs, organizing research projects in rural Africa, and discovering the meaning of community from Zimbabwe to Rwanda. Queen City believes in honest relationships, from farmers to consumers.

Together, iDE and Queen City are creating a more equitable value chain that respects coffee farmers, enabling them to build a sustainable, profitable future for their farms and families.

"Queen City has always focused on building relationships across the coffee supply chain because we believe direct and genuine connections foster greater equity for farmers and producers. Knowing the individuals that pick, grow, and process your coffee inspires creative and urgent solutions to coffee's unbalanced and unjust commodity market. We see these same values reflected in iDE's approach to poverty alleviation and that is why we are proud supporters of their work."

-Scott Byington, founder of Queen City Collective Coffee​

In early 2019, iDE had the opportunity to pilot a project using blockchain, testing the theory that the technology would provide more transparency to the value chain and result in smallholder coffee farmers earning more profit for their beans. Blockchain technology allows us to trace coffee from collection to cup.  With this level of transparency, we know exactly who is doing the hard work of tending to the plants that become our morning coffee. 

Most of the population in Honduras is engaged in agriculture on rural, typically hillside, farms. Erosion, increasing lack of access to water, higher temperatures, extreme weather events and erratic rainfall patterns due to climate change magnify the difficulties of small-holder farmers. Photo by Emily Karol © iDE 2017

Our focus was the volatile coffee market in Honduras where we had seen coffee prices plummet in recent years. We asked our friends at Queen City if they would partner with us in purchasing and roasting the beans our farmers harvested. Years later, we are not just continuing to work together, we’re solidifying our workflow, results, and dedication.

Using the blockchain technology we developed with Bext360, farmers can virtually watch as their coffee beans make a winding journey to Queen City in Colorado to be roasted and enjoyed.

Tending to your coffee

Meet Claudia and Juan, two coffee farmers in Honduras. A few years ago, they didn’t earn a consistent profit from coffee year over year to reinvest in their farm as a business. For the past few seasons, however, Queen City Collective Coffee in Denver has been selling “Claudia & Juan Hernandez” beans to satisfied Coloradans.


3X2 Claudia Juan Honduras Coffee

Photo by @nahunrodriguez.hn, 2020

Farmers like Claudia Hernandez have now increased their income through the partnerships enabled by blockchain technology. However, when speaking with Claudia, we discovered that isn’t her focus. Instead, she shared the pride she feels knowing her name is attached to the delicious coffee being sipped thousands of miles away. 

We don’t work with local partners like Queen City in powering entrepreneurs to end poverty because it’s convenient. We do it because we value organizations that consider themselves members of a global community. We, alongside our partners, want to use this Colorado Gives Day as an opportunity to demonstrate that local partnerships can have global impact

We believe that entrepreneurs are everywhere and they are capable of almost anything. Supporters like you help us connect with more of these entrepreneurs who act as pebbles thrown in the pond of their community, creating ripples of long-term sustainability.

Partner with iDE

Like Queen City Collective Coffee, your company can power entrepreneurs to end poverty. Fill out our partnership form to learn more about partnership opportunities.

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The future for Ethiopian coffee farmers

In the birthplace of coffee, Ethiopian farmers are adopting new practices to enhance a way of life that’s been passed down for generations.

In the birthplace of coffee, Ethiopian farmers are adopting new practices to enhance a way of life that’s been passed down for generations. With the support of the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, iDE is working with farmers in Jimma, Ethiopia to practice sustainable coffee production.


Read more: Enhancing coffee production in Ethiopia