Stean’s Beans was founded by a son of East Africa who is passionate about the region, its people and its coffee. Since 2015, we have worked closely with small holder coffee farms in Rwanda, Tanzania and Kenya. Working with these farmers caused us to recognize our responsibility to support their practices so that can continue growing coffee with the same heart and passion. This means ensuring they are paid a living income.
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Coffee roasters often have little control over their supply chain as it is a complex process involving many links in the chain. This leads to a lack of transparency causes coffee roasters and buyers to lose track of the exact amount that coffee farmers are paid. we aim to take this control back so that coffee farmers receive what they deserve. we want to build a relationship that is sustainable and worthwhile for all parties involved.
our story
Smallholder farming
Smallholder farming is a special way of growing crops, like coffee beans, where individual farmers take care of relatively small plots of land. Imagine a close-knit community of farmers who put a lot of love and attention into their work. These farmers might not have huge farms like big companies do, but what they lack in size, they make up for in dedication and care.
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Smallholder farmers in East-Africa are typically paid in cash when they deliver the cherries they grow to the washing station. This means of payment is untraceable and often this can result in underpayment.
'Lipia' is a platform we developed to make traceable payments to the coffee producers we work with in East-Africa. Every washing station and coffee farmer that supplies us uses lipia to track coffee processing and oversee electronic payments. This service additionally makes it possible for those drinking our coffee to send a tip to the farmers that produced it.