Powrd Custom Coffee Roasting

Aiming to empower the consumer with the data to find their favorite coffee flavors, we've built a product that roasts "made to order fresh", consistent and interactive coffee tasting.

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Inspiration

At Powrd Custom Coffee we strive to eliminate a disconnect in the supply chain between distributors and consumers introduced by roasters around the world. We bring clarity and control to the oftentimes ignored end-consumer in a market worth over $40 Billion globally. We make small batch freshly roasted coffees that you can understand. No gimics or trade secrets! Using data analytics we characterize raw coffee beans to assist us in finding your perfect coffee roast! All we ask from you, our customers, is your feedback so we can make our service better and help you get exactly what you want. Our coffees are selected from countries around the world and we get them to you in two distinct formats. Find YOUR coffee with us!

How we built it

Having devised a preliminary roasting methodology using off the shelf products, we have been able to roast different types of coffee beans and captured some initial data points of interest. Furthermore, we have built a website that serves as the customer hub for learning about and ordering coffee. The site also has the ability to collect customer feedback which will then be aggregated and used to determine the optimal roasting variables needed to perfectly roast each coffee bean.

Challenges we ran into

Given the lack of experience with web development and the time constraint, we were pressed against the wall. However, by working hard and working fast to learn the react framework, along with javascript, from scratch, we were able to build an MVP of the website. Furthermore, roasting our own coffee with off the shelf components proved difficult as well since we did not anticipate the amount of smoke and chaffs that would fly out while roasting. We solved this issue by roasting outside in a well ventilated environment, and luckily no alarms went off!

Accomplishments that we're proud of

Roasting and tasting our first batch was one of the highlights of the weekend. It is amazing the difference between fresh roasted coffee and that which one would normally drink has in terms of taste and especially smell. Furthermore, given the amount of time we were given and our complete lack of initial knowledge of web development, we built a robust website.

What we learned

We learned many things. Being a part of such a big event really opened our eyes in seeing the number of people who are looking to test out, and build on new ideas. Not to mention all the web dev skills we acquired.

What's next for Powrd Custom Coffee Roasting

We want to create a robust coffee roaster that has the capacity to be automated. This will allow for our roasts to be much more consistent. Also, when building this, we plan to incorporate features that will solved some of the problems with chaff and smoke. Lastly, we would like to perfect and launch our website and begin attracting coffee lovers like us!

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