Coffee Design: Coffee Collective In Copenhagen, Denmark

We last featured the unique coffee package design of Copenhagen’s Coffee Collective in 2015. The coffee roasting company’s transparent bottom was revolutionary in 2011, as was the company’s transparent FOB pricing listed on the bag itself. Coffee Collective debuted a brand refresh this year, retaining those important elements with a fresh new look on their packaging and a shiny new website. We connected with founder Klaus Thomsen to find out more.

Hey Klaus! What information is found on the front of the new bag?

We had one big goal with the new bags, and that was to increase the size and visibility of the farmer name and simplify the information. We have tasting notes (which we think are quite important for people to choose their coffee from, but should also be easy to understand and relate to).

It then says who the coffee is “produced in companionship with” as we think there’s often too much credit going to the roastery. We wanted to make sure people understand it’s a joint (even collective) effort.

Dyrkningssted means Origin, so it can specify the region, country and if there’s more info, like a cooperative. And then finally Quality Bonus, which is the price we’ve paid FOB in percentage over the C-Market price. For years we’ve written this information directly on the bags as well as published a full Transparency Table. We think having it directly on the bag is both a statement and a gently push for customers to ask questions about coffee prices in general.

 

We also have spots allocated for information such as variety and processing, but will only use it where we feel it’s necessary (like a specific and interesting variety or natural processing). Together with elevation and a bunch of other information you can find all the details you need plus farm visit reports on our website for each coffee.

Who designed the website? What are some of the new additions to it?

We had a team called Magic People Vodoo People design and a programmer named Anders from Remotely to program it. The whole thing was build from scratch with usability and shop experience in focus. We’re especially proud of our new subscription wizard where we can now offer a lot more options.

Who designed the package, the typeface, and the triangles?

The whole brand refresh was done by Kirk, Hatch & Bloom who did our original branding over a decade ago. We interviewed several companies but ended with them, because they just seemed to get us. They knew our history and values better than any.

What are some coffees you are looking forward to releasing soon?

We’ve just released two new Kenyans and a washed Ethiopian and have two more Ethiopians coming out real soon, plus a Coffee Collective stable: Finca Vista Hermosa from Edwin Martinez in Guatemala.

Is the coffee available to purchase worldwide?

Yes. We offer subscriptions with free shipping to almost everywhere in the world and are currently sending to 46 countries. Danish VAT of 25% is deducted when shipping outside EU, so it’s a pretty good deal.

Thank you!

Zachary Carlsen is a co-founder and editor at Sprudge Media Network. Read more Zachary Carlsen on Sprudge.