Coffee Flour

Winner – OVERALL category

Sectors: Waste Management, Agro-industry, Circular Economy

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The new global impact food

Coffee Flour is made from the pulp and skin of the coffee cherry that is typically discarded during coffee milling operations. An estimated 21 billion kgs of wet cherries are wasted annually, threatening fragile ecosystems and contributing .2% of the world’s carbon emissions when left to decompose in landfills.
Coffee Flour dries and mills the cherries into a nutritionally-dense flour that can reduce environmental damage, generate economic value to smallholder farmers and millers through job creation in the community, and bridge dietary gaps in both micro and macro nutrients when added to local diets. The product is now being incorporated into chocolate, bakery, and beverage products of food & beverage companies around the globe, while also transforming coffee-growing communities. The production volume of Coffee Flour is approximately equal to that of cocoa, with impact potential in the 60+ countries that produce coffee globally.

MISSION

To build a global business through Coffee Flour that serves the growing health and sustainability needs of the food & beverage industry while transforming coffee-growing communities through economic, nutritional, and environmental impact.

The team

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DAN BELLIVEAU

CEO

MICHAEL KENEIPP

VP, Supply Chain Systems

MARK DENDLE

CFO

DIPIKA MATTHIAS

VP, Strategic Business Development

CAROLE WIDMAYER

VP, Marketing

DUNCAN FADER

VP, Sales

The project

THE PROBLEM

Approximately 21 billion kgs of nutrient-dense coffee pulp is decomposing in landfills each year while two major nutritional epidemics – obesity and micronutrient deficiency – affect billions of people globally. At the same time, smallholder coffee communities, who produce 80% of the world’s coffee, have little opportunity to improve their economic situation.

Coffee Flour leverages the enormous global infrastructure for coffee and represents a force for business and social good in the 60+ countries that grow coffee today. With our business model to provide farmers a premium for each kg of dried pulp, we can improve the incomes of smallholders by 10-20%. Addtionally, we have already created hundreds of jobs in coffee mills, particularly for women, as the lighter-weight pulp widens their opportunity for involvement. Finally, we anticipate retaining 30% of our product in origin markets, where Coffee Flour can fortify tortillas or other traditional foods, improving the intake of fiber, iron, potassium, calcium, Vitamin A, antioxidants, and other nutrients.

Innovation for Developing Countries

Coffee Flour has developed methods for drying pulp at scale to the food grade specifications required of the food & beverage industry. Additionally, methods have been developed to mill the pulp into flour. However, more significant than the technologies employed is the enormous business infrastructure and model that Coffee Flour has created for ensuring that smallholder farmers and their communities benefit from these technologies.


Under the patronage of

With the support of