Welcome back to Part Two of our series on designing a great retail coffee bag. Click here to read Part One.
In this section, we’ll review some specific language on your coffee label and talk about making the most of the real estate on your bag. First, let’s consider what customers are looking for on a coffee label.
Think about how you shop for coffee. What information do you look for on a bag to make your decision between multiple options? If you’re a coffee person who’s well-versed in origin flavors and characteristics, you might be satisfied to shop by country name exclusively.
Origin vs. Roast Level
The majority of customers, though, couldn’t tell you the biggest difference between a coffee from Rwanda and one from Tanzania. If your coffee is a blend, or a name that’s something other than a country, it may be even harder to tell what the coffee will taste like.
Most customers look for the roast level as one of the primary factors in their purchase decision. Even folks who don’t know what “kinds” of coffee they like, know that they like a dark or a medium roast. Use well-known words like “light roast” or “dark roast” instead of industry-specific terms like “full city” or “city plus”. For a more graphic approach, consider doing a slider or a diagram where one side is light and the other is dark. You can use a mark in between the two to indicate the roast level of a specific coffee.
After roast level, the country, region, or part of the world (i.e. “Latin America”), is helpful to many customers. Lastly, think about including the processing method on your label. If the coffee is not a washed process, you should let customers know. Typically, if the processing method isn’t listed, people will assume the coffee is washed.
Accurate and accessible tasting notes
Tasting notes are a helpful way to tell your customers what they’ll taste in the cup. These notes set an expectation of flavor experience for our customers and, at their best, entice people to purchase something delicious. We follow a simple rule of thumb when it comes to flavor descriptions on bags: use words people know, and keep it brief. We recommend no more than 4 descriptors on a label, and at least one of those should describe something other than flavor (like the quality of acidity or the tactile experience). At a previous company I worked for, we followed a convention for tasting notes on every label which was “flavor, acidity level, body”. Creating structure and setting boundaries is a smart way to keep the label simple.
The descriptive words you use should be familiar to most people. There’s no extra credit for obscure tasting notes like “sultana” instead of golden raisin. When you reach for a more elevated tasting note, your word choice might make your coffee feel inaccessible or pretentious. Choose flavors that most people will know and be drawn to. As our friend and former colleague Joe Marrocco used to say, “Flavor descriptors on your label are a promise you make to your customer”. When you keep that promise, you build trust and loyalty, one bag at a time.
Our bags for Coffee Fest are given out to participants as part of our Sensory Skillbuilding classes. The focus of the labels are tasting notes relative to roast profile.
Tell them who you are
Don’t forget to designate plenty of space on your label to your company name and logo. It seems impossible, but we frequently see coffee bags that have a really cool design and a good amount of coffee information, but shockingly little contact information about the roaster themselves. Find a place to share your website and social media handles to ensure that folks know where to go to learn more and, importantly, order more of your coffee.
A caveat to the “who you are” section: don’t write too much. A coffee bag is only so big, and too much text will overwhelm the design. Including long paragraphs of small typeface explaining the history, ethos, and future dreams of your coffee company are not a good use of space. There’s an “About Us” link on your website for that. Practice the same brevity and clarity that you used in your flavor descriptions to give customers a sense of your company’s approach to coffee without being too verbose. If you can communicate your general vibe and make people like you in two sentences or fewer, that’s lightning in a bottle.
Use your real estate
Depending on your bag choice, you could have up to five panels on your bag to utilize for branding, information, or fun details. The front and back panel are most commonly used for coffee and roaster info, but the side and bottom panels can also be a good place to share less urgent information.
Side panels are a nice place for social media information, brewing and storage recommendations, fun facts about the coffee or your company’s history, or even a bio of who roasted the coffee. We love to see companies include a surprise graphic, phrase, or design on the bottom panel as well. It can give that extra element of delight when a customer pours out the last few beans in a bag and is rewarded a final little detail. It shows the thoughtfulness and intention that went into the whole retail experience.
Check out a few examples of what we think are successful ways to utilize side and bottom panels of flat-bottom bags.
