Being more popular than alcohol and soft drinks says quite a lot, and coffee is definitely in command. It only comes third behind water and tea when considering the most commonly consumed beverages on the planet.
Your packaging choices affect the taste of the beans you sell because it maintains the freshness of coffee for longer. Your packaging will be inseparable from the image your consumers have of your brand. There are so many reasons why custom coffee packaging is essential.
The ideal kind of packaging for your brand will depend on the scale of your business, your consumers’ preferences, and your filling processes.
How Do You Select the Right Coffee Packaging? Six Factors to Consider
You should consider quite a few factors when choosing the packaging you’ll go with. The six we’ve dissected here are sure to give you the best results:
Pouch Types
Pouches or bags that carry your coffee should do as much for your brand and product quality as possible. You should consider getting custom coffee bags after choosing the type of pouch that matches what you need. There are various types of pouches, but for coffee, you should only go with airtight containers and stand-up choices.
Here are the four common types of pouches:
Doypack
It’s the most common packaging type with features that make consumers feel like the product is worth their money.
Features
- Round bottomed and flat topped
- It stands upright regardless of its weight and filling
- Has a zipper for reclosing
Side Fold Bag
This packaging style is considered a more traditional choice.
Features
- Easy to use and cost-efficient
- It doesn’t stand upright but has a solid feel when held in the hands
- Has a minimalistic look due to the straight lines
- It’s easy to close up by folding it over the top or rolling it up and tying it with a label or tine after sealing it
Quadro Seal Bag
It looks like a side-fold bag with all its four corners sealed. This style is also called a quad bag or quad seal pouch.
Features
- It looks squarish and is moderately stable on the shelf
- Its structure makes it easy to integrate a zipper
Flat Bottom/Box Pouch Bag
The difference between the box pouch and the Quadro seal bag is that this one has a flat bottom.
Features
- It looks like a box with its square style and is the most stable bag format
- Its style is perfectly shaped for standing upright
- Its layout makes it easy to integrate a zipper
Custom Coffee Bags Should Have Vapor Barriers
If you seal your airtight coffee bags with a heat sealer and use the degassing valve to expel the CO2 from the roasted coffee bags, your coffee should remain fresh.
Coffee packaging needs barriers to protect the sensitive coffee from oxygen and other factors. Most coffee pouches have 3-ply laminate aluminum barriers. These barriers aren’t eco-friendly.
A 2-ply laminate that has a polyester barrier is a good alternative. It is 100% plastic and maintains the freshness of the coffee beans.
If you want to keep UV light out of the beans, you can use dense artwork printing or white or black-based polyester. Specialty coffee is consumed within six months. Therefore, see-through bags can do the job.
The Coffee Bag Filling Process
Most people opt for manual or semi-automatic filling procedures. Therefore, a bag’s design can influence the speed of the process.
Bags that have two top corners are often produced with zippers, like with a doypack. If your bags have four top corners, they will likely have side folds. Filling up the bags is called open-mouth execution. Side fold bags have larger openings and are therefore easier to fill semi-automatically or manually.
If you choose to fill a doypack manually, ensure that the opening is wide enough to fit the weigher funnel or scoop in. However, most machines handle both types.
Find out the type of packaging a machine can handle when you choose the automatic filling.
Re-Closability
When coffee is to be used straight out of the package, having re-closable packaging is ideal. Your consumers should push all the air out of the bag before losing it. Although they cant get rid of all the air, they can try to leave as little as possible.
Style
Having unique and elegant packaging sets your brand apart from your competition. Eye-catching artwork for your packaging establishes your style. You can also opt for various pouch shapes, neon colors, integrated zippers, etc. Alternatively, you can focus on having consumer-friendly packaging, such as making bags easy to open.
Labels
Labels are vital in the specialty coffee industry. You may handle coffee of various origins. Therefore, you need to inform your consumers of the origin, processing method, roast dates, and other information about your coffee beans. Take time on the design.
You can try to align the material of your label with that of the bag. However, if you want to attract attention to the label, you can use a stock pouch.
You can have printing professionals help you out to finalize market-ready coffee label designs. A top-quality printing professional will give you great templates with editable details. It would help if you also thought about the font colors and styles for a more significant impact.
Ready To Package Your Branded Coffee?
Coffee packaging is vital to your coffee brand and quality. We hope this piece has helped get you started smoothly. Go on and give your customers what you know only you can offer.
