What's on the bag?
I'm in the midst of designing a new retail bag and am curious what you consider to be most important to the consumer.
Do consumers really care about:
The farm name?
Origin?
Roast level?
Fancily worded flavor profile?
Proper brewing instructions?
Your story?
There's a ton of information that CAN be included, but in your
experience what do you hear consumers mention most from your
retail bags?
What information is most useful to the consumer when making a buying decision?
Thanks,
Dave
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Alex Stoffregen on
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I'm not your standard coffee consumer (i have a profile on barista exchange) But i would say that you would be good with brewing instructions (probably for auto drip and french press), a farm name/origin, and roast level. Along with any kind of information you can get about the farm/farmer. I know plenty of people that don't really know anything about coffee, but if they can see that their coffee comes from SOMEWHERE and is grown by SOMEONE, they will feel much better about the purchase.
what is your target market?
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Permalink Reply by Joona Suominen on
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Roasting date without a question. Any actual information on the coffee (origin, farm name, variety etc) is a plus too.
I'm not too keen on having vivid flavour descriptions or roast level descriptions (simple mention if it's to be used as a nespresso or something else is enough). They'll just distract the buyer and instead of the coffee, they'll end up wanting a roast level.
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Permalink Reply by David Lanning on
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Good point on the roast date!
And, I agree... too much information is not a good thing.
Do you find more of your customers buy by origin instead of roast?
Or, do they make their buying decision based on origin & profile, and lastly roast level?
Thanks for the feedback...
Joona Suominen said:Roasting date without a question. Any actual information on the coffee (origin, farm name, variety etc) is a plus too.
I'm not too keen on having vivid flavour descriptions or roast level descriptions (simple mention if it's to be used as a nespresso or something else is enough). They'll just distract the buyer and instead of the coffee, they'll end up wanting a roast level.
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Permalink Reply by Mike McGinness on
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With newer customers what's on the bag is virtually irrelevant. Wants important is knowledgeable staff that can dialog with the customer to learn their current likes and make suggestions.
That said we use a front 3w x 1.8h and back 2.75 x 2.75 back label. Example El Injerto labels:
Front info:
Guatemala
Huehuetenango, El Injerto
Winey fruits, praline, floral accents and a super smooth, balanced, malt-chocolate finish.
Hand Crafted From Farmer To Cup
www.CompassCoffeeRoasting.com
Back info:
Guatemala El Injerto
(Region)
Aguirre Family, Finca El Injerto, Huehuetenango
(Altitude)
2000 Meters
(Cultivar)
Bourbon, Catui
(Processing Method)
Washed
First place winner of Guatemala’s Cup of Excellence four years in a row, this is arguably the best coffee out of the country. Balanced with peach, jasmine and brown sugar. Syrupy and amazingly sweet.
Roasted Net Weight
12ounces
**roast date hand written when bagging.
Price? On the bottom of the bag...
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I know... most people here are not the average coffee buyer! Good point.
Your comment about SOMEWHERE and SOMEONE is right on.
People want to feel like they are helping another person and
not a faceless corporation. Connecting a place and person to the
product is important.
Our target market is middle aged, professional, wanting to experience
the finer things in life. Most are fairly affluent and will pay for quality.
I really want to educate them on the art of enjoying great coffee.
That's why I'm putting so much consideration on the real estate of
our bags to convey only the most important information.
Thanks for your suggestions!
Alex Stoffregen said:I'm not your standard coffee consumer (i have a profile on barista exchange) But i would say that you would be good with brewing instructions (probably for auto drip and french press), a farm name/origin, and roast level. Along with any kind of information you can get about the farm/farmer. I know plenty of people that don't really know anything about coffee, but if they can see that their coffee comes from SOMEWHERE and is grown by SOMEONE, they will feel much better about the purchase.
what is your target market?
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Thanks Mike...
What about roast level? Do you include that?
I constantly have customers ask for "what's your dark roast?" in our bar.
Agree that a knowledgeable staff is KEY.
It's like walking into a fine wine store and having a knowledgeable staff
member point you in the direction of THEIR personal favorite pinot nior.
Roast date hand written is a nice touch.
Thanks!
Mike McGinness said:With newer customers what's on the bag is virtually irrelevant. Wants important is knowledgeable staff that can dialog with the customer to learn their current likes and make suggestions.
That said we use a front 3w x 1.8h and back 2.75 x 2.75 back label. Example El Injerto labels:
Front info:
Guatemala
Huehuetenango, El Injerto
Winey fruits, praline, floral accents and a super smooth, balanced, malt-chocolate finish.
Hand Crafted From Farmer To Cup
www.CompassCoffeeRoasting.com
Back info:
Guatemala El Injerto
(Region)
Aguirre Family, Finca El Injerto, Huehuetenango
(Altitude)
2000 Meters
(Cultivar)
Bourbon, Catui
(Processing Method)
Washed
First place winner of Guatemala’s Cup of Excellence four years in a row, this is arguably the best coffee out of the country. Balanced with peach, jasmine and brown sugar. Syrupy and amazingly sweet.
Roasted Net Weight
12ounces
**roast date hand written when bagging.
Price? On the bottom of the bag...
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Permalink Reply by Chris on
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I agree with Mike on most of this.
Basically, I want to know what's in the bag.
'Coffee' is just too vague, as is 'Arabica Coffee Beans'.
Well, duh.
Lat night we had some beans at a party that were from a very responsible seller/roaster.
'Guatemala'.
Right.
So, when different parts of the same Finca can produce a different product, I'd imagine that different parts of the country could, perhaps, show shades of difference in the cup? 'Guatemala'... Really?
I want to know what's in there, where it came from (not because I want to help some farmer, unless, maybe it's Edwin at FVH... but because I want to exercise the option of repeatability), and what you've done with it.
And if you're not proud enough of your product to tell me all that, and ESPECIALLY the roast date, why'd you expect me to take any interest in it in the first place?
No roast date is a deal killer. No roast level, and you're baristi should be able to answer my questions about that, origin, and something about your blends.
I respect your secret recipes for your espresso blends, and I'm not going to try to duplicate them at home, or sell 'em to Doug Sell, but I am in the habit of knowing something about what I'm buying, so unless you're sure enough that I'm going to love it that you'll buy me a pound of something else if I don't, tell me what I'm getting.
Again, if it's not printed on the bag, your baristi had better be pretty comfortable discussing it. 'Uhm, I think that it's from South America somewhere. Or Africa. Yeah, I think Africa'. Well, it is an Ethiopian bean, so..." and "I dunno, but it's pretty fresh. We get new coffee every month." are never substitutes for actual facts and knowledgeable baristi. They should KNOW these things.
And people have been suggesting roast date, right?!? ; >
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Permalink Reply by Mac Pearce on
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When I'm looking at purchasing a bag of coffee from a shop outside my own, I usually look for a recent (not yesterday) roast date, basic profile information and origin. The more simple and "user-friendly" the label is, the better.
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It does seem that people are more interested in the roast degree rather than the coffee it self. I/us used to be excited and even reinforced people's interest on the roast degree. I still think it's a good thing that people are aware of the roasting process and the impact it has on the taste. Still: people should be drinking coffee, not the roast.
It's a mistake to let people believe that coffee is how it's roasted. Nowadays when people start asking about roast degrees, I usually let them know that all our coffees are roasted to represent them the best and say absolutely nothing on the color. If someone wants a less acidic coffee, s/he should go for the brazilian coffees instead of a dark roasted anything, if someone wants brighter and more crispy flavours.. get yourself a bag of kenyan and off you go.
Same thing with flavour descriptions. It's nice to have something on the basic taste but all the toffeenuttywoodyblackcurranttsywhateverisness is too vague and the people'll just get dissapointed if the coffee doesn't taste exactly like the real life counterparts of the descriptions. If there's a dominant taste, good tasters will find it, others don't.
David Lanning said:Good point on the roast date!
And, I agree... too much information is not a good thing.
Do you find more of your customers buy by origin instead of roast?
Or, do they make their buying decision based on origin & profile, and lastly roast level?
Thanks for the feedback...
Joona Suominen said:Roasting date without a question. Any actual information on the coffee (origin, farm name, variety etc) is a plus too.
I'm not too keen on having vivid flavour descriptions or roast level descriptions (simple mention if it's to be used as a nespresso or something else is enough). They'll just distract the buyer and instead of the coffee, they'll end up wanting a roast level.
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Permalink Reply by Derryl Reid on
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In my area people tend to go by the roast level, they equate dark roast with strong coffee that taste like coffee! Frustrates the hell out of me.
I am trying to remove the roast level I currently have to an "icon or symbol" type descriptor that would be easy for the consumer to understand! It would have to combine aroma, taste and feel!
But I am still trying to figure out how to go about it!
I also agree with keeping the label simple and clean.
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Thanks Derryl...
It is a challenge to attempt to get roast, flavor and feel across to the average consumer.
True, people have been conditioned to believe that for a coffee to be full flavored it must be a dark roast.
Some one should come up with a universal symbol (similar to the organic symbol)!
Derryl Reid said:In my area people tend to go by the roast level, they equate dark roast with strong coffee that taste like coffee! Frustrates the hell out of me.
I am trying to remove the roast level I currently have to an "icon or symbol" type descriptor that would be easy for the consumer to understand! It would have to combine aroma, taste and feel!
But I am still trying to figure out how to go about it!
I also agree with keeping the label simple and clean.
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David Lanning said:Thanks Derryl...
Some one should come up with a universal symbol (similar to the organic symbol)!
I envision about eight symbols on the back or side of my bag as a flavor/aroma a key x=earthy y=fruit notes etc.
On the front label I would have 3-4 of these symbols describing the coffee.
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