# Coffee labelling requirements



## CoffeeMagic

Does anyone know of any specific requirements there are for labeling roasted coffee?

My thoughts are currently:


Roast date

Batch reference

Business name, location and contact details


Do you need to have a 'Best before' date, or is it optional?


----------



## Monkey_Devil

I think best before would be good if you want to open yourself to coffee-curious customers- the ones just making their jump from thinking ground supermarket coffee is good to realizing that a whole new world us about to swallow them up. Of course, we all know how long you'd want to keep it, but new people might not









I like that Steve from hasbean puts brief tasting notes on his too. Sometimes I get what he's on about, sometimes I think he (or I) are a tad schizo.


----------



## MikeHag

Not a definitive answer but I assume it's optional since many roasters don't provide a best before date. I'd imagine the key requirement is lot/batch traceability so that the roaster could identify and recall specific batches if needed.


----------



## coffeebean

I was told by my council to provide the following on my labels:

Name, address and contact for company

Name of beans

Description (ie wholebean or ground)

weight (must be done on commercial 'stamped' scales)

best before date

batch number

Andy


----------



## CoffeeMagic

I've just had a look around the supermarket (yeh, trolley boy again) and most of the supermarket coffees don't have a roast date. Scarey bit is they have a 'Best before: mmm/2012'.

At the moment - test labels - I have:

Coffee name

'In the cup' tasting notes

Weight (from stamped scales)

Business name

Location

Tel #

Email

Separately:

Roast date

Batch info

Grind info - Whole bean / Plunger / Filter (still in debate!!)

QR code - contains re-order info and batch details


----------



## CoffeeMagic

Monkey_Devil said:


> ... I like that Steve from hasbean puts brief tasting notes on his too. Sometimes I get what he's on about, sometimes I think he (or I) are a tad schizo.


Depends who cups the coffee







. You can go as wild as you like. Have you seen the latest advert for Gordons Gin?


----------



## MikeHag

I'd say there's a fairly strong push from people within the coffee industry towards not having best before dates on bags, and that having it is about to become a symbol of potentially bad coffee. That's why you'll see best before on supermarket coffee whereas on freshly roasted you'll see the roast date. For example, Mark Prince who runs http://www.coffeegeek.com has over 8000 Twitter followers and recently tweeted:



> #1 quality sign to look for in coffee you buy off the shelf? If it has a roasted on date, GOOD! If it has a best-by date, NOT GOOD!


If you can avoid a best before date I'd say do so.


----------



## Fran

Personally, I'm not keen on QR codes. They certainly have uses in specific situations, but I'm not sure a coffee bag is the place. If you're going to reorder a bean, you're likely not going to use your smartphone to do it, and same for the batch details. I'd say the batch details belong on the bag itself.

This all stems from how I perceive QR codes more generally - there was a lot of buzz about them, but in 99% of the cases they just contain a link to no useful information, just an advertising page. I used to go around, shouting "Hey! There's a QR code!! I wonder what hidden treasure it contains!", and always end up looking like an idiot.

SO I'd steer clear of them, unless they're put to creative use!


----------



## CoffeeMagic

Personally, I would prefer not to use best before dates as it only signifies that the product is still considered to have the same qualities as when packaged - which you can't really say about coffee as the flavours are continuously changing (albeit subtly).

The intention with the QR code is to link with the online shop and make it easier to re-order on the move. Maybe it would be better if it contained a 'hidden treasure'







. What would you consider a hidden treasure?


----------



## MikeHag

I know one roaster who throws in small sample bags (maybe 50-75g?) of other beans with some of his customers' orders, which was a nice bonus and prompted me to then buy a 250g bag.


----------



## Fran

CoffeeMagic said:


> Personally, I would prefer not to use best before dates as it only signifies that the product is still considered to have the same qualities as when packaged - which you can't really say about coffee as the flavours are continuously changing (albeit subtly).
> 
> The intention with the QR code is to link with the online shop and make it easier to re-order on the move. Maybe it would be better if it contained a 'hidden treasure'
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> . What would you consider a hidden treasure?


I guess my problem is limited vision - I don't every order on the move, and don't see much demand from other people who would! However, if this market exists, then it's definitely a good way to proceed.

Hidden treasure?! Well, to put it simply, discount codes!







But I know that QR discount codes aren't a way to run a business, so if you could occasionally put in a discount QR code in the middle of other interesting things, I would fully endorse their existence!


----------



## CoffeeMagic

I'm gonna need all the marketing help I can glean. Worth consideration. I'll drop one in your first order


----------



## CoffeeMagic

I'm getting a vision of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - golden tickets - visit to the roastery. Maybe I'm getting past my sell-by date









I'd rather avoid discount codes but don't want to dismiss the idea of rewarding customer loyalty


----------



## Fran

God, I've come out of this exchange sounding like a cheap-skate. Which is true, of course, but normally I'm a bit better at covering it up!

Roastery tours/tastings are a brilliant idea! Having a glimpse behind the curtain would be very interesting!


----------

