Coffee and great design go together like pieces of a puzzle that just *fit*.
On a purely utilitarian level, caffeine has fueled artists and creators for centuries. However, in a commercial design sense, fantastic art and creativity helped define the way coffee was understood, packaged and marketed from the very beginning. And in the field of specialty coffees – our work at Sprudge – the design aesthetic and language of coffee constantly innovate, surprise and delight.
Sprudge Media Network has been publishing original content every day since the Year of Our Lord 2009 – an era of skinny jeans, flowing hair, the unfettered optimism of millennials, and a multitude of independent online journals, known as “blogs.” Today we are The Last Blog™ with incredible archives from the last 17 years (and counting!) for you to draw inspiration from. Our archives are free, open to everyone and contain countless inspiration units, mood boards and investment presentations from around the world. ten thousand articles we published here on Sprudge.
Coffee Design: A Modern Look for Olympia Coffee Roasting Co.
Back in 2015, we started spotlighting coffee (and coffee-adjacent) companies in a regular series called Coffee Design. Aiming to showcase companies from all over the world, Coffee Design now brings together dozens – no, hundreds! – coffee companies from around the world, boldly promoting brands huge and diminutive, established and emerging, all with the power and beauty of coffee’s unique aesthetic in mind. Today, as we look forward to the amazing Coffee Design feature, we also want to take a moment to showcase some standout stories from the last decade.
Do you remember VHS tapes? They’re back (in coffee form) thanks to process coffee from Belfast
Coffee Project: Cafe Aroma in Hoboken, Modern Jersey
Coffee Project: Sunday Coffee Project in Portland, Oregon
Coffee Design: Dogwood Coffee
But it’s not enough to just show off these amazing designs. Sprudge’s unique platform allows us to go deeper and directly engage with our community through public outreach and rewards. The Outstanding Design Award has been part of our annual Sprudgie Awards program since 2009 and has featured some amazing winners over the years. But we know it can be even bigger. In 2023, we took our love of design and the celebration of coffee a step further with the launch of the Sprudge Design Awards. SDA allows us to showcase all types of projects in the coffee industry, including packaging across the value chain, merchandise, food, designers and teams, e-commerce, website design and more. We’re excited to have SDA back this year bigger and better than ever. Watch this space!
We are announcing the winners of the second annual Sprudge Design Award
In 2026, access to pretty packaging will be easier than ever for newly established roasteries and startups in garages. Example: we have started cooperation with no problema company that prints all types of sustainable packaging and products, offering on-demand printing services with low minimum requirements for retail, catering and hospitality. It’s a great company for smaller roasters, with low minimum orders (only 25) and intuitive browser-based design tools for those just starting out in design and marketing. Their commitment to sustainability does not sacrifice quality: soy- and water-based inks feature dynamic colors, compostable products are long-lasting, the paper is acid-free, and the people we have worked with over the years have had positive experiences with both limited-release offerings and large-scale bulk orders.
In partnership with noissue, we look forward to continuing to bring you fresh Coffee Design stories throughout 2026. Noissue represents an vital category of the coffee industry – diminutive and huge printers that are responsible for most of the bags and printed packaging you find in cafes and shops and in your mailboxes – and in 2026 we will learn more and ask questions about this whole world. Get ready to dive deep into home compostability, industrial compostability, FSC-certified paper, plant-based polymers, MOQ, WAT, and greenhushing. It’s a brave up-to-date world and we’re becoming maniacs.
Coffee Project: Infinitely recyclable coffee cans from West Berkshire roastery
Coffee Project: Three Key Coffee in Houston, Texas
Coffee design: J. Rieger & Co. x Thou Mayest Coffee Amaro
Coffee Design: Edible Cafe from Substantial Island Coffee Roasters
If you’re reading this and maybe you own or work for a frigid coffee company, we’d love to have the opportunity to feature your company in an upcoming Coffee Design feature presented by noissue. Contact us – we look forward to telling these stories for many years to come.
