Tanbrown Coffee is a fresh, new roasting company out of Atlanta, Georgia. Their packaging is bright and as wonderful as the duo who operate the business, Ethan Darla and Marissa Childers. Childers background in industrial and product design was helpful in the company’s branding process—using those skills to design the logo and packaging, all done entirely in-house. We spoke with Darla and Childers digitally to learn more.
Tell us about Tanbrown Coffee Roasters!
Tanbrown Coffee was founded in October of 2021 by Marissa Childers and Ethan Darla. It started after a few months of the two talking about their passion for coffee and the desire for more within the Atlanta community including seeing faces that look like theirs in the roasting world. They decided to just do the thing and soft launched in January 2022 with their first coffee. Something Tanbrown wants to do is bring to the forefront different Asian coffees as well as work with people who will do more at origin. Ethan and Marissa are still figuring everything out, but want to be in this space to show that roasters and coffee professionals don’t always look like white cis het men and the coffee space is one that we can all change together.
Who designed your packaging?
Marissa actually designed the packaging. She has a background in Industrial and Product Design before she worked in coffee and wanted to use those skills to bring the Tanbrown brand to life.
Tell us a bit about the design – the logo, the info on the bag, etc.
Tanbrown coffee was a name that was derived from sitting down to talk about the design process. Ethan and I knew we wanted to guide the brand with the words Playful, Nostalgic, Welcoming. When we thought about our original colors, the colors tan and brown came up in conversation, and we realized, we could put them together to be Tanbrown because coffee is tan and brown and we are also tan and brown. We wanted to have an air of playfulness while still addressing complex topics within the coffee space.
When choosing the logo, there were many iterations and drawings to decide on the final, but we wanted it to look symbolic, embody our brand, and still maintain a playfulness. It mimics the shape of a slide while also having a more literal T and B in the logo. We also liked the idea of making a logo that could be a symbol and felt as though the shape of it reminded us both of symbols and letters from our respective motherlands and alphabets.
Finally, the colors and typefaces were chosen to make the brand feel more open and welcoming as well as call back to childhood with colors similar to those of primary colors and a chalkboard sketch print. We plan to use them all in systems and have different means of showcasing the colors and fonts.
Tell us about your coffee offerings!
Currently, we have four coffees we are excited to offer. The first one is a Guatemala coffee that shines bright and was the start of Tanbrown! We have also started to offer a coffee from India and Papua New Guinea, and a blend of the two that highlights the characteristics of each. We are trying to work with some good people and want to continue to develop our offerings to have more Asian coffees, and more coffees that we have sourced well and with the help of friends along the way. We want to continue to develop Tanbrown as a coffee roasting company that supports people throughout the supply chain. It’s big talk and we have a lot to learn, but that is one of the ultimate goals of Tanbrown coffee.
Where is your coffee available?
Our coffee is currently only available online at tanbrown.coffee (we are looking for some wholesale partners though, so if you are interested, let us know :) )
What’s next for Tanbrown Coffee Roasters?
You can catch us cooking up some coffee and featured at the Brewista booth at Boston Expo 2022. We will also (hopefully) be popping up in more places around Atlanta! We are excited to bring more coffee to our community and hope to grow more love and care along the way.
Thank you!
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