Test one label on your actual bag before you order hundreds. Coffee bags are hard to label: kraft paper is rough and fibrous, and many bag films are slick plastics that adhesive struggles to grip. If a label lifts, the fix is a stronger adhesive, such as High-Tack, not pressing harder. Keep labels on the flat face, away from seams and the valve.
Why labels lift on coffee bags
- Kraft is textured. On a fibrous surface the adhesive only touches the high points, so it holds a fraction of what it would on something smooth. Stickers on textured surfaces explains why.
- Some films resist adhesive. A slick, matte plastic bag can be as hard to label as kraft, for the opposite reason: the adhesive can't spread out and grip the surface.
- Bags flex. They're filled, squeezed, shaken, and stacked. A label that crosses a fold, seam, or gusset creases there, and the crease becomes a lifting edge.
What to order
- High-Tack Stickers have a much stronger adhesive, made for textured and hard-to-stick surfaces. They can be cut to a circle, a rectangle, or your logo, from 25 of a design. They're harder to remove, which on a coffee bag is the point.
- Custom Roll Labels, on White Plastic BOPP or White Satin Paper, are quicker when you're labeling hundreds of bags. Test them on your bag first, as with any label.
- Vinyl sheet labels suit small roasts labeled by hand, from 25 of a design.
Mind the valve
Most coffee bags have a one-way degassing valve: a small round button, usually near the top of the front. Never cover the valve. A label over it stops the bag from venting. Check where the valve sits on your bag before you settle on a label size and position, and design around it.
Applying labels to bags
- Label empty bags flat on a table. A hard surface behind the bag lets you press firmly, and pressure is what makes adhesive bond.
- Keep to the flat center of the face, clear of seams, folds, and gussets, and below where the top folds or the tin tie rolls down.
- Work at room temperature, on clean, dry bags. Bags straight from a cold storeroom give a weak bond.
- Press the edges down, then give the label a day before the bags are packed tight or shipped.
Roast dates
There are three ways to handle a date that changes every roast:
- Write it on the main label. On a roll label, choose matte, which takes pen or Sharpie. Writing on a gloss roll label scratches off with a fingernail. Unlaminated White Satin Paper takes pen. Stickers, including High-Tack, and vinyl sheet labels take a Sharpie in either finish. Leave a real box for the date, not a thin line. More in writing on stickers and labels.
- Add a small date label. Order one design, such as "Roasted on" with a blank box, on small circle or rectangle labels you write on as you go.
- Print it, if you know the dates or lot codes ahead of time. Variable data printing puts a different one on every label in a single run.
Sheets or rolls
On labels, every origin or blend is its own design with its own minimum, so a range of six coffees is six items in the cart. For small roasts labeled by hand, choose sheet labels or High-Tack Stickers, from 25 of a design, shipping 3 to 5 business days after you approve the proof. For hundreds of bags a week, choose roll labels, from 100 of each design, shipping 5 to 7 business days after approval.
If you sell retail, check what your label needs to say for your product and where you sell it.