1850 Coffee is using QR codes to show people where their beans came from

1850 Coffee Colombian Ground coffee (Image credit: 1850 Coffee)

What you need to know

1850 Coffee is working with Farmer Connect to make it easier to find where coffee came from.
Customers can scan a QR code using their phone and receive information about their beans.
The whole thing uses IBM's blockchain tech.

Coffee brand 1850 Coffee is making it easier than ever for customers to find out where their coffee came from. Leveraging IBM's blockchain tech, the company's 100% Colummbian Coffee will allow users to scan a new QR code using the Thank My Farmer app. 1850 Coffee is the first in the United States to offer this functionality.

Not only will customers be able to find out exactly where their coffee started life, but the Thank My Farmer app also helps local communities in the area the beans originated from, too.

By easily scanning a QR code on the bag of coffee, their device will route them to the Thank My Farmer website, which provides information about where the coffee was grown, processed and exported, and the location of its roast. They can also learn more about Farmer Connect projects underway to support coffee producers and their families in Colombia such as providing clean drinking water for schools; coffee seedlings for smallholder farms; school supplies for local schools; and sustainable water and agriculture initiatives

The whole thing is made possible by IBM's blockchain tech with the whole coffee supply chain tracked. Buyers can be confident in the information they're being shown as well.

[...] transparency is achieved by using blockchain to record data about supply chain events in the coffee's journey; including which beans were used, when they were roasted, ports they were shipped to and beyond. Information about these events is recorded on an immutable ledger, creating increased accountability for coffee producers and their supply chain partners and helping ensure products are what they say they are.

Of course, none of this matters if the coffee is no good. Thankfully, it sounds pretty great. And now you can read all about your own coffee's journey to your cup while you're drinking!

1850 100% Colombian bagged coffee is a bold, yet smooth blend of premium Colombian Arabica beans. It has a lively and full-bodied taste that's unique to Colombian coffee

Oliver Haslam has written about Apple and the wider technology business for more than a decade with bylines on How-To Geek, PC Mag, iDownloadBlog, and many more. He has also been published in print for Macworld, including cover stories. At iMore, Oliver is involved in daily news coverage and, not being short of opinions, has been known to 'explain' those thoughts in more detail, too.

Having grown up using PCs and spending far too much money on graphics card and flashy RAM, Oliver switched to the Mac with a G5 iMac and hasn't looked back. Since then he's seen the growth of the smartphone world, backed by iPhone, and new product categories come and go. Current expertise includes iOS, macOS, streaming services, and pretty much anything that has a battery or plugs into a wall. Oliver also covers mobile gaming for iMore, with Apple Arcade a particular focus. He's been gaming since the Atari 2600 days and still struggles to comprehend the fact he can play console quality titles on his pocket computer.