Coffee knowledge, shared
Coffearium is an open compendium of coffee, from the seed to the cup. It is free to read, every fact links to its source, and everyone who works with coffee is invited to make it better.
Coffee connects the people who grow it, process it, trade it, roast it, brew it and drink it. Yet what is known about it is scattered: in journals and manuals, in many languages, behind paywalls, and in the experience of people on farms, in roasteries and behind the bar. Coffee gets better when that knowledge moves freely along the whole chain.
- Knowledge belongs to everyone. What is known about coffee should be open to read, easy to find and free to reuse, with the original source always one click away.
- Shared words, shared understanding. A producer, a roaster, a barista and a coffee lover should be able to talk about the same thing in the same words. We explain every term, connect each stage to the others and show where good sources disagree.
- Better coffee is a joint effort. Research, practice and tasting each see part of the picture. We bring them together, and we welcome every correction and new piece of evidence.
- Quality starts with understanding. Clear explanations and open numbers help people make better decisions, on the farm, in the roastery and in the cup.
- Sustainability cannot wait. Climate change, deforestation and the livelihoods of the people who grow coffee are among the most pressing questions coffee faces. We give them room and evidence across every stage of the chain, on our sustainability pages.
What you find here
The site follows coffee along its chain: the plant, the farm, processing, trade, roasting, brewing and the cup. Topics that run across the chain, such as history, sustainability and science, have their own pages. Alongside the entries there are interactive tools, maps and a glossary.
Every entry starts with a short overview and goes into detail further down, so it works for a curious coffee lover as well as for a professional who needs the numbers. Where good sources disagree, we show both views and mark them as contested.
Who makes it
Coffearium is made by a small team of coffee professionals, designers, developers and coffee lovers. It is independent: it is not part of any coffee company or association, and no one pays to appear in an entry.
How we check what we publish
Every statement is linked to the source it comes from, and each source is rated by how much weight it can carry. Before an entry is marked as source-checked, a separate check matches each statement to its source. How this works is described on How we verify.
We do our best to get every fact right, but mistakes can happen, and coffee knowledge keeps moving. If something does not match a source or your own experience, please tell us with Suggest a change on the entry. Every change we make is listed in the entry’s change log.
Built with the people who use it
Coffee is learned on farms, in roasteries, behind the bar and in labs, and much of that knowledge lives with the people who do the work. Readers’ experience and different views are valuable, and good disagreement makes the knowledge better.
Every entry ends with a discussion where readers can exchange experience, ask each other and debate, once they have signed in. Signing in needs no password: a passkey or an email link is enough. The discussion belongs to the community: the Coffearium team does not answer questions there, and what is said there does not change the entry. The community rules keep the conversation useful.
To propose a change to an entry – a correction, a source or a missing topic – use Suggest a change on the entry. For collaboration, press, teaching or other matters, there is the contact form.
Reading and reusing
Everything on Coffearium is currently free to read. The text is published under CC BY 4.0: you may share and adapt it, as long as you credit Coffearium and link to the entry. Better still, cite the original sources we list.
A site in progress
Coffearium is young. Entries are added step by step, and pages, tools and features will change as we learn what helps readers most.