How to Make Impactful Coffee Packaging, According to Science

What’s more important—the product, or the package it comes in? Research from Brazil shows why it may be the latter.

BY BHAVI PATEL
BARISTA MAGAZINE ONLINE

Featured photo by Allison Saeng

Every specialty coffee bag is a silent salesperson. Before a single cup is brewed, the label is already doing the heavy lifting—building expectations, signaling quality, and quietly steering the purchase decision. But are roasters and cafés putting the right information in the right places?

A new peer-reviewed study from Brazil’s Federal University of Lavras used eye-tracking technology on 105 specialty coffee consumers to find out exactly where their eyes went, what held their gaze, and, crucially, what made them want to buy. 

Display key information front + center

The researchers tracked gaze-fixation patterns across six commercially available specialty coffee labels, mapping out which elements captured attention and which were ignored. The findings were unambiguous: Consumers gravitated toward the central regions of both front and back panels.

According to the study: “These ‘hot zones,’ particularly when they featured sensory claims, cupping scores, origin information, roast level, and the designation ‘specialty coffee,’ attracted the longest, most meaningful gazes.” Information positioned toward peripheral edges and lower corners? Largely invisible. 

What to keep on the sidelines

Not all label information is created equal, and this study makes that incredibly clear. The study finds that weight, best-before date, grain or ground indication, and contact information “consistently received little attention” across nearly every label tested.

These elements are not going away—most are legally mandatory—but designers need to stop treating them as headline acts. They are the fine print of the coffee world: necessary, unglamorous, and best kept to the margins where they belong. 

What this means for roasters + coffee companies

The practical implications here are significant. If you are a roaster crafting your next label, the study’s guidance is clear: Make your SCA cupping score, sensory tasting notes, and traceability information visually prominent and centrally placed.

According to the study, “Higher attention to these elements was directly and positively correlated with purchase intention with correlation values reaching as high as r = 0.92 for sensory claims and r = 0.85 for traceability.”

One important caveat: The study also found that simply having the “right” information was not enough. One label in the study shared many quality cues with higher-performing labels but scored the lowest purchase intention of all six, because its visual design failed to present those cues effectively. A beautiful, well-organized design isn’t decoration; it’s communication. 

Sustainability skepticism?

Here is the uncomfortable finding that marketers won’t love: Sustainability claims and social-appeal messaging attracted notable visual attention on some labels, but their association with actual purchase intention was comparatively weak.

The study suggests consumers may find these cues less diagnostic of real product quality. In some cases, they may even trigger skepticism. That does not mean drop the certifications. It means stop leading with them. Position ethical messaging as supporting evidence, not the star witness.

What smart shoppers are looking for

For consumers navigating the increasingly crowded specialty shelf, this research offers a useful compass. Prioritize labels that clearly display a cupping score, specific origin, or farm traceability, and sensory descriptors. These are the signals that genuinely correlate with quality.

A beautiful label with vague claims and no score is, statistically speaking, a gamble. Your eyes are already looking for the right things; this study just confirms you should trust them. 

The label is the first sip

In specialty coffee, the gap between a brilliant product and a disappointing sale is often a label that buries its best arguments in the wrong places. This research gives the industry something rare: empirical, biometric evidence for what actually works.

The study concludes, “Consumers prioritize information that conveys quality and distinctiveness over technical or administrative cues and that strategic placement of that information can meaningfully drive purchase intent.”

The message to roasters, cafes, and designers is simple: Your label is not “just packaging”; it is your opening argument. Make it count. 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Bhavi Patel is a food writer focusing on coffee and tea, and a brand-building specialist with a background in dairy technology and an interest in culinary history and sensory perception of food.

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