How the exchange works
From seed to settlement - where coffee is in its journey, and how every claim is backed.
A trade, end to end
1. Verified at origin
The producer's identity and credentials are checked, the farm plot is located, and the lot's claims are recorded against evidence.
2. Bonded and graded
The coffee is received into the DMCC Coffee Centre, graded and quality-checked, and backed bag-for-bag in bonded custody.
3. Payment held safely
When a buyer purchases, their payment is held - committed but not released. The seller knows the funds are there; the buyer's money is protected.
4. Confirmed, then settled together
Only once the warehouse confirms receipt and quality do payment and ownership change hands - in the same instant. Neither side can be left short.
The settlement-integrity rule: payment and ownership only ever change hands once the coffee is physically in bonded custody and confirmed - so no one ever pays for coffee that is not there, and no one parts with coffee before the funds are committed.
Three positions, one rule
Bonded
In store at the DMCC Coffee Centre, backed bag-for-bag. Only bonded coffee can settle immediately - payment and ownership swap the moment the warehouse confirms it.
Afloat
On the water, with a vessel and an ETA you can track. You can reserve it now; it settles once it arrives and is confirmed into bond.
Forward
Reserved from an upcoming harvest. A forward commitment settles once the coffee is delivered and confirmed into bonded custody - never before.
The digital passport: claimed vs verified
Every lot carries a digital passport - a single, tamper-proof record of what it is and what has been checked. The passport keeps two things clearly apart, so you always know which is which:
Claimed
What the producer states: varietal, process, origin, farm or cooperative, harvest year, elevation and quantity. Useful context, presented as a claim.
Verified
What has been independently checked: the cupping grade, the satellite deforestation analysis, the quality fingerprint, and the warehouse receipt confirming the coffee is in bonded custody.
What the certifications mean
Every certification chip links to its evidence - a certificate, a satellite analysis, or a quality fingerprint.
EUDR compliance, on every lot
The EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) requires anyone placing coffee on the EU market to show it was not grown on recently deforested land, and to trace it back to the plot it came from. On xchange.coffee that work travels with the coffee rather than sitting in a separate filing cabinet:
- Each verified lot records its exact plot coordinates and a satellite check of that plot for deforestation.
- A due-diligence statement is generated per lot, ready to file. Because it carries the operator's legal name and the farm's location, it is available to the lot's owner, its buyer and the warehouse - downloaded from the lot's passport page, not published openly.
- The deforestation-free status and geo-verification are shown on every passport, so buyers can see compliance at a glance before they commit.