D-Lab I — Coffee Roasters Feasibility (Kenya)
Winter 2019 - D-Lab I
Smallholder coffee farmers in Kenya are not earning enough profit to support their livelihood. Despite high demand in the international market for premium beans, farmers are still exiting the industry. Students figured out that sorting is important for maximizing quality and is less costly and simpler than changing agricultural practices, and that selling multiple grades of coffee could potentially fetch a higher overall price.
Read the presentation
Read the final report
D-Lab II — Coffee Roasters Feasibility (Kenya)
Spring 2019 - D-Lab Pro ABT 289A 002 (D-Lab II)
This is the continuation of the above project from D-Lab I
Smallholder Kenyan coffee farmers lack the access to an educational opportunity that will explain how to improve the quality of their coffee beans. Consequently, they have been having trouble to make a considerable profit from selling the beans. Proper sorting after harvest is the most effective way to improve their method because it can be immediately implemented. By providing an affordable, easy-to-use, and reliable coffee roaster, the farmers will be able to taste their own coffee to understand the difference in quality between beans that are properly and improperly sorted. Working with Kyle Freeman and Tonny Gitonga, the students redesigned a popcorn popper to make a coffee roaster that will evenly roast coffee beans within 5 - 12 minutes.