crowd crafted coffee

a new model, with a Mission

“Crowd-sourced” is not often a term heard in specialty coffee, but sharing our journey of discovery into the world of coffee has always been central to our mission as a company. Since launching, we have been passionate about creating a new experience for consumers and curating something special for tight-knit groups of people.

With crowd crafted coffee, we provide a group of like-minded coffee lovers an experience like none other. We facilitate a journey for the cohort to collectively craft their own specialty coffee, with a series of decision points presented to the group for consideration and voting. At the end of the experience, each cohort member receives bags of a coffee that they can truly call their own!

joining a crowd crafted project

We’ve done crowd crafted projects with all sorts of groups, from military units to university classmates to private companies. In a member-driven cohort, individuals make a one-time “buy in” at the start of the project that includes the experience and a certain number of bags of finished coffee at the end. This provides options at various price points so members can participate at their comfort and interest level.

Organizations can also sponsor the experience for their group, making for a fun team-building event with employees or a unique engagement platform with partners and customers.

We first tested out this idea with a US Navy warship crew (which was special to us because of our origin story). But whatever group you want to bring together, crowd crafted coffee is a surefire way to provide an enjoyable bonding experience and a special, truly one-of-a-kind tangible product at the end!

Cohort experience

Once a project launches, the cohort members get rich multimedia content and the opportunity to vote at multiple decision points throughout the process of crafting a new coffee. For the origin, the group decides on a continent, a country, and even the specific producer, farm, or lot to source their coffee from. With a specific coffee in hand, the group is then exposed to multiple roasting profiles and decides on the roast level and highlighted flavor notes. They also get design input on the final packaging and special logo!

Once all the decisions have been made, Project Buna sources the specific coffee beans, produces custom packaging, and roasts the coffee that the cohort has crafted. Depending on the group’s size, there are often additional bags of coffee available for purchase via our online store. With the close personal tie for each cohort member, these additional bags often make great gifts or other mementos!