1000 Year Brew

Our Impact

Real change, from farm to forest

Building fairer coffee systems requires a multi-faceted approach. Our processes have an impact on the people, their livelihoods, the coffee quality and the biodiversity on-ground. This is why we monitor our impact on a regular basis, so we can adapt, improve and create lasting change.

As a first step, we seek fairness by working exclusively with smallholder coffee growers across the country. They are a vital part of the global coffee market, and about 60% of the total market supply worldwide comes from them.

I always knew conserving biodiversity was important but we constantly faced pressures to remove shade trees and forest cover and use pesticides. Partnering with Black Baza has changed this totally. Dasegowda, BR Hills

Despite their contributions, these farmers are rarely recognised for their efforts and have faced the brunt of inequalities in revenue distribution across the coffee value chain. When we started working in the Biligiri Rangana Hills (BR Hills), many producers earned 56% below the market price. Coffee was traded without being weighed, and there was no system of accountability. We’ve had to build fair, transparent trade systems from the ground up. High household debt and economic insecurity aren’t just livelihood issues — they also drive environmental degradation. As Elinor Ostrom’s work reminds us, local communities are capable of managing common resources, but only when their rights and agency are recognised.

We know that shade-grown coffee can support biodiversity, but our partner producers go many steps further — restoring native vegetation, regenerating indigenous tree species, and nurturing multi-tiered forest canopies that bring nature back. They care for their land as kin, and their farms are living, breathing examples of how coffee cultivation and biodiversity conservation are two sides of the same coin.

19,20,000
Servings of Coffee in 2024
4013
Tonnes of Carbon Sequestered
64,476
Native Trees
650
Partner Producers
1.2x-1.4x
Price Differential to Market

Our farmer partners teach us every day that growing coffee is not just about a better brew but about regenerating ecosystems, securing livelihoods, and reimagining a future where people and nature flourish side by side.

As the coffee industry chases scale and efficiency, we see the value of slowing down. We stay accountable to the people and places at the heart of our work through regular conversations with growers, peer-to-peer learning, community-based monitoring and decision-making. It’s a practice rooted in trust and transparency.

Camera trap image of a leopard in coffee

An elephant chomps away on jackfruit in a coffee farm

Night-time visitors to coffee farms - Indian Crested Porcupine

At Black Baza, we invest in ecological farming that supports livelihoods and encourages resilience, thus building robust and transparent supply chains that reduce dependence on intermediaries and eliminate high-interest loans. This way, we are able to provide our farmer partners with fair prices, securing their future and the future of the land that is an integral part of them.

Before partnering with Black Baza, we would receive almost half the market price for our produce. Now, I can look forward to the harvest! Madamma, BR Hills

As we work towards fairer coffee systems, we know that intentions aren't enough — impact matters. That’s why we continuously monitor how our work affects livelihoods, household debt, and biodiversity on the ground. We stay accountable to the people and places at the heart of our work through regular conversations with growers, peer-to-peer learning, and community-based monitoring. It is a practice rooted in trust and transparency, so we can adapt, improve, and ensure that the change we seek is real, measurable, and lasting.

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