🫘 BEANie — The Coffee Encyclopedia & Brew Journal

A handcrafted MERN stack web app for coffee lovers, home brewers, and baristas — exploring origins, brewing methods, and the science behind every perfect cup.

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☕ Overview

BEANie is a full-stack MERN (MongoDB, Express, React, Node.js) web application that blends education and design into a digital coffee experience.
Users can explore detailed encyclopedia entries, bean profiles, brew guides, and blogs — all in a minimalist, coffee-brown theme that feels warm and inviting.

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🧱 Tech Stack

Layer	Technology
Frontend	React + Vite + Axios + React Router
Backend	Node.js + Express
Database	MongoDB + Mongoose
Styling	TailwindCSS / Custom CSS (coffee-inspired palette)
Auth	JWT (JSON Web Token)
Emailing	Nodemailer (for Contact form jobs hook)
Validation	Express Validator + Sanitize-HTML
Deployment Ready	Vercel (Frontend) + Render / Railway (Backend)

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🚀 Features

👩‍💻 Frontend

• Responsive, coffee-themed interface ☕
• Interactive homepage with featured blogs & encyclopedia entries
• Bean Library — detailed origin, process, and tasting notes
• Encyclopedia — searchable database with category filters
• Blog — full posts with deep dives into sustainability and brewing
• Smooth animations, clean typography, and dark-beige color harmony
• Secure login and JWT-based authentication
• Minimal admin dashboard for CRUD operations

🧩 Backend

• RESTful API routes for /api/blogs, /api/beans, /api/encyclopedia, /api/auth
• Secure role-based authentication middleware
• Data validation and sanitization
• Modular structure (models, routes, config, middleware)
• Separate seed scripts for each collection
• Email job hooks for contact form messages

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📂 Project Structure

BEANie/
├── backend/
│   ├── config/
│   │   └── db.js
│   ├── models/
│   │   ├── User.js
│   │   ├── Blog.js
│   │   ├── Bean.js
│   │   └── Encyclopedia.js
│   ├── routes/
│   │   ├── auth.js
│   │   ├── blogs.js
│   │   ├── beans.js
│   │   └── encyclopedia.js
│   ├── middleware/
│   │   └── auth.js
│   ├── scripts/
│   │   ├── seed-users.js
│   │   ├── seed-blogs.js
│   │   ├── seed-encyclopedia-full.js
│   │   ├── seed-more-beans.js
│   │   └── seed-all.js
│   └── server.js
│
└── frontend/
    ├── src/
    │   ├── pages/
    │   │   ├── Home.jsx
    │   │   ├── Blog.jsx
    │   │   ├── BlogPost.jsx
    │   │   ├── Encyclopedia.jsx
    │   │   ├── EncyclopediaItem.jsx
    │   │   ├── BeanLibrary.jsx
    │   │   ├── About.jsx
    │   │   ├── Contact.jsx
    │   │   ├── Auth.jsx
    │   │   └── Dashboard.jsx
    │   ├── components/
    │   │   ├── Navbar.jsx
    │   │   ├── Footer.jsx
    │   │   └── Card.jsx
    │   ├── api/
    │   │   └── apiClient.js
    │   ├── App.jsx
    │   ├── main.jsx
    │   └── index.css
    └── vite.config.js

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⚙️ Setup Instructions

1️⃣ Clone the Repository

git clone https://github.com/yourusername/BEANie.git
cd BEANie

2️⃣ Install Dependencies

Backend:

cd backend
npm install

Frontend:

cd ../frontend
npm install

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3️⃣ Environment Variables

Create a .env file inside /backend:

PORT=5000
MONGO_URI=mongodb://localhost:27017/beanie
JWT_SECRET=supersecretkey

Create a .env.local file inside /frontend:

VITE_API_BASE=http://localhost:5000

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4️⃣ Seed the Database

Run the following commands inside /backend:

node scripts/seed-users.js
node scripts/seed-blogs.js
node scripts/seed-encyclopedia-full.js
node scripts/seed-more-beans.js

To clear and reseed everything:

node scripts/seed-all.js

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▶️ Run the App

Backend:

npm run dev

Frontend:

npm run dev

Then visit 👉 http://localhost:3000

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🔑 Default Admin Login

Email	Password
admin@beanie.local	password123

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🎨 Design Aesthetic

BEANie uses a coffee-inspired design system:
warm browns, soft cream tones, subtle shadows, and natural typography — giving the app a handcrafted, calm, and premium café vibe.

“Crafted with care for coffee lovers.”

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🔒 Security

• JWT authentication
• Role-based admin protection
• Input sanitization and validation
• CORS-safe communication
• Secure password hashing with bcrypt

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🧭 Future Enhancements

• User profiles and saved brew logs ☕
• Comment system under blogs
• Advanced search by origin, process, and roast level
• Content scheduling and analytics for admins
• Integration with coffee data APIs

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👨‍💻 Contributors

Name	Role	GitHub
Merull Shah	Full Stack Developer, Designer	@melwarebytes
Meghna Sanjeev	Full Stack Developer, UI/UX Collaborator	@melonmeg

Together, crafting BEANie — one cup at a time ☕💻

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🧡 License

This project is open-sourced under the MIT License.
Feel free to fork, modify, and build upon it — responsibly and with good coffee.

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© 2025 BEANie

"Crafted with care for coffee lovers."