Our coffee bags were illustrated by artist Mara Berger. On the bags, we tell the story of coffee's journey with a wink. A look back from the beginnings of our packaging to the status quo.
In January 2017, we started Spring Roasters as a project of the Kaffeemacher roastery GmbH. Spring Roasters was the roastery with which we were also able to supply our own Café Frühling – hence the name.
A little later, in the name of came along, our second project, under which we carried out custom roasting for third parties. We continue to do these roastings, but as Kaffeemacher roastery. In May 2019, we finally communicated that we were merging the two projects. Since May 2019, we have been the Kaffeemacher roastery.
A look back at our packaging
To account for these internal developments, we wanted to communicate this with a new look to the outside as well. But before we discuss the new bags, let's take another quick look back at how it all started.
The beginning (2017)
Simple and clear was the initial motto. A blossom and a branch from a coffee tree, plus simple lettering. That's how we started launching the Spring Roasters brand.
Since early 2017, we have been using the black bags from Stroebel's Eco-Line without aluminum coating. We continue to pack private label coffees in these bags today.
More info (2017)
The reduced label was no longer enough by the end of 2017 to tell more about the coffee. We wanted to share more about the origin and the processing methods. We packed this information on an extra sheet.
More color (2018)
We roasted more and more coffees and began to assign flavors to colors. At the same time, the label became clearer, as a clear separation of color and plant was made. We also modernized the typeface.
Everything new (2019)
And now, in 2019, everything is new. The coffee plant from the first package served as our inspiration to continue using a sketch-like drawing style. Only everything else around it should be new.
Our re-branding process
Every rebranding process offers opportunities. With the new bag and the new coffee look, we wanted to show how we understand our perspective on specialty coffee. Over the last eight months, we have intensively engaged with our identity and our values.
Simple or wild? Very wild.
For us, specialty coffee stands not exclusively for taste, but also for the approach of how to treat coffee and the people connected to it.
Specialty coffee is diverse, no coffee chain is exactly like another. Just as there is no the coffee producer, there is no the roaster. We wanted to give expression to this diversity. We brought on board Mara Berger / moktokillustration (https://www.instagram.com/moktokillustration/ ) because we greatly appreciate her work.
Mara manages to tell big stories in a small space. And that was exactly what we wanted.
With Mara, we wanted to show a general coffee story from A to Z, starting on the farm, and now the front of the new bag.
The front side shows a coffee farm, a dense plant world, a smiling coffee maker somewhat clumsily picking coffee, someone fertilizing coffee, wildlife and characters that should appear again and again.
We are all fans of Where's Waldo? and so the idea of a busy picture wasn't far away for us. Today, a lot is simple and elegant. We wanted to show coffee the way it is for us – wild, lively, and a bit chaotic.
In the upper part, we have immortalized our partners from Boca de Lobo in Nicaragua:
The wolf (lobo) is the logo of Claudia's and Tim's project to house volunteers for a period of time on a coffee farm and learn about the community, about coffee and life locally.
Coffee from A to Z
We roast the purchased green coffee in Münchenstein, then pour it in our Café frühling in Kleinbasel and now also at SBB Basel railway station, or we sell it in our shop.
On the back of the package, Mara has illustrated these further stages of the coffee chain.
The roasting machine (Diedrich) is pleased, the brewing methods too, we taste coffee, the guests are satisfied and the dog on the catering bike is also in a good mood.
Coffee is not a perfect world, we know that. But coffee is emotional. And we wanted to do justice to this emotionality of the product.
The MokTok character
Many artists have their favorite character. A figure that keeps appearing somewhere, even if in modified form. We firmly believe that Mara has incorporated her favorite character on one side of the package. Here he is trying his hand at latte art.
A little fun is necessary
Sometimes we think that coffee comes across as a bit too simple and super premium. So we wanted to do something with a sense of humor.
And whoever wants to can color in the bag, whether large or small.
The labels and coffee info
We had a long discussion about how we wanted to communicate coffee knowledge. On the one hand, we want to tell why we particularly like this coffee. On the other hand, we run the risk of overwhelming someone with too much info and data.
So we decided on simple labels (as a contrast to the wild packaging) and coffee info cards. Salome, our Kaffeemacher graphic designer, designed both. So now we have a consistent form and color language, which makes the entire range appear uniform.
For the coffee info, we decided on an info card with two options. The front is for the quick check, "what kind of coffee is this?", the back side serves for a deeper engagement with the product.
The coffee barometer
To make entry into the coffee world a bit easier, we decided on a coffee barometer. It swings back and forth between comfort and adventure depending on the coffee.
When it came to naming how we should call these two coffee styles, we drew on the concept from a roastery that unfortunately no longer exists today: Handsome Coffee Roasters in Los Angeles, CA.
The distinction between comfort and adventure is meant to help you find what you're looking for faster and get a feel for the coffee.
Comfort: these are coffees that engage you. Coffees that taste like coffee. Coffees whose flavor is familiar, but still clearly stands out from the crowd. Coffees that make you want many more cups, coffees that don't require much imagination, but simply fulfill their purpose: to be fun.
Adventure: these are coffees that are different. Coffees that demand some imagination. Coffees that surprise, perhaps uncomfortable, but always broadening horizons. Coffees that don't hide their character. Coffees whose task it is to look beyond the sensory plate and see the unknown.
Looking to the future
The discussions we held were sometimes emotional, because they were about what we do every day. We want the new bags and the new design to give expression to what we love. What we do daily, what makes us happy.
We would like to thank Mara Berger / moktokillustrations for the wonderful collaboration. The bags really turned out to be unique. Our Salome then completed these with simple labels and postcards.
We're ready for the next steps and are looking forward to releasing the wild bags into coffee freedom. Take care.
