Zionsville-based startup selling coffee with a high-tech, NFT twist

Zionsville-based Coin Coffee works with artists who design artwork for the company's labels.

Zionsville-based startup Coin Coffee LLC is bringing a high-tech twist to an age-old practice—connecting with others over coffee.

“We’re trying to encapsulate that experience using technology,” said Coin Coffee co-founder and CEO Andre Ramsey, who launched the company in 2021 with business partner Ken Julian.

Coin Coffee launched in 2021 and sells premium coffee in bags featuring artwork from artists around the U.S. and beyond. Now, the company has its eye on a product release featuring exclusively Indianapolis-area artists—and on raising seed funding to help grow the company.

Ramsey describes Coin Coffee as “an artist-empowered coffee brand” that helps support artists while also using technology known as non-fungible tokens, or NFTs, to connect customers with the art.

The business model requires a little explanation and has several components, but here’s how it works:

For each of its coffee releases, Coin Coffee selects a handful of artists who agree to provide an image to be featured on bags of coffee. The company also helps the artist craft a story about that image. Artists don’t get paid for the work up front, but they do receive 21% of sales proceeds.

The coffee sells for $18.99 per bag—a competitive price for premium coffee, Ramsey says—and it’s sourced from Julian’s other business, Julian Coffee Roasters. The company sells most of its coffee online, although it is also available at Georgetown Market in Indianapolis’ International Marketplace neighborhood.

Along with their order, customers receive a QR code through which they can access an NFT version of the art on their bag of coffee. That NFT also unlocks digital extras such as an audio clip of the story about that art and a short video about coffee. Customers also have a chance to win a physical piece of art.

The business model has gone through a few modifications over time, and it hasn’t always involved art. Ramsey’s original concept was that customers could buy Coin Coffee and earn points toward the purchase of cryptocurrency. But when cryptocurrency prices tanked in 2022, he rethought that model.

“Our business, as an evergreen business, cannot really be reliant upon the sentiment of cryptocurrency,” Ramsey said.

Ramsey said he incorporated NFTs into the business because he believes the technology has a future and resonates with the younger consumers who are his target market. But the technology is not front-and-center. “We don’t talk about crypto. We talk about coffee experiences. We just use the blockchain technology to do that on the back end.”

In the NFT craze of a few years ago, NFTs were often described as unique digital tokens—something that allowed their bearers to own a one-of-a-kind image. Coin Coffee is using the technology in a different way. The NFT’s value is not that it’s tied to something unique, Ramsey said, but that it’s a way of accessing bonus content. “I see the NFT as a key or a pass that unlocks more unique, immersive experiences.”

Coin Coffee has collaborated with 20 artists so far and has paid out more than $2,000 in total commissions, Ramsey said. Another 300 or so artists have expressed interest in working with the company in the future, Ramsey said.

The most established artist featured by Coin Coffee to date is Los Angeles-based Amber Vittoria, who has done work for a list of name-brand clients such as Facebook, Apple, The New York Times, Gucci, and Adidas. But Coin Coffee has worked with artists at various career stages, Ramsey said, including emerging and new artists.

Coin Coffee is targeting July for another release that will exclusively feature Indianapolis-area artists. The company plans to work with local arts organizations to find the artists for that release. Artists can also apply directly to Coin Coffee using the “artists collab request” tab at coincoffee.life.

The company, which to date has raised $40,000 through a combination of grant funding and angel investors, is also working to raise $250,000 in seed funding to help grow the company, Ramsey said.