Beautiful Bag Design
Whether we like to admit it, a lot of us judge books by their covers. I’m unashamedly a sucker for aesthetics so I know I’m doing it all the time. Everything from book covers to package design, from print elements to web assets - I have an eye for it all.
Design isn’t divorced from coffee either, and you’ve likely seen some bags that seem to stand out amongst the rest. Notable ones that come to mind for me are Brandywine Coffee Roasters, SEY Coffee, and Lüna Coffee.
I’ve personally had multiple conversations with roasters and designers asking me what I appreciate on a bag of coffee as a consumer. Sure, unique typefaces and clever colour palettes are great, but for me it always comes down to three things - approachability, transparency, and sustainability.
These new boxes from Harken Coffee check all three.
Approachable
At first glance the box is rather modest, although still stunning in a minimalist manner. It's approachable because it doesn't overwhelm you with information right away, but offers you enough to know what you're looking at - a single origin coffee from Ethiopia.
Transparant
Transparency
When you lift the top off this clever box is when you really get into it, and I think that's a perfect analogy for most people's journey into specialty coffee. If a path has been made for you to approach it, there's an endless journey to be found underneath. Anyways (that's enough waxing poetic about that...) the rest of the box is gently revealed giving you some more insight into the coffee inside - a little more information on the coffee itself (process, varietal) and some really thoughtful tasting notes. The notes are helpful because they are descriptors instead of prescriptors. Words like bright, clean, and balanced are open to interpretation based off your own experiences.
When you take the bag out of the box there's even more information to be found, and it might just be the most important information of all. On the bag you'll read a transparent snippet of who Harken purchased this coffee from and what their relationship at origin is like. Additionally (and likely my favourite part) the last phrase on the bag describes the coffee as memories using the language "this reminds us of". Tasting language after my own heart.
Sustainable
Finally, the physical box is cardboard and entirely recyclable as well as the plastic bag that holds the coffee. The whole package is manufactured in North America with sustainability of our planet in mind.
Check this out!
Like most coffee bags there’s a best before date included, but have you ever seen a best after date? Harken shares similar philosophies with roasters like La Cabra and Lüna when it comes to resting coffee before drinking it. Read more about that here.
What do you think of this boxed design? I’d love to know your favourite coffee bag designs!
