A true pioneer of New York's third-wave coffee movement, Joe Coffee is stepping into 2020 with a bold new look.

Part of that refresh includes their instantly iconic blue coffee bags. Before you see them in your mailbox, learn all about the intentional aesthetic, designed to "stoke curiosity for the coffee within."

Why did you decide to redesign your bags?

On the heels of our 15th anniversary, we teamed up with Godfrey Dadich Partners in San Francisco to help us evolve our identity to better express who we are as a brand. Along with a refresh of our logo and color palette, our coffee bag was a key element of this redesign. Here, we saw an opportunity to improve our storytelling and to better convey our values.

What was your design inspiration?

We're passionate about hospitality and empowering our customers with knowledge, so our goal was for the bag to stoke curiosity for the coffee within, and to demystify the language around coffee.

But it was important for us to do this without sacrificing a certain level of detail about our coffee, so we included a glossary on one side which defines some of the key terms that we use on our labels, like "process" and "variety", and added best practices for home brewing on the other side.

How did you choose your color palette?

Each category of our coffee is now in a different shade of blue from our new palette. Our year-round coffees are in our primary blue, our single origins are in a light blue, and our Nightcap Decaf is in a deep blue. Together, they're so much more vibrant. We love how they bring more color and personality into our cafes.

What brand message do you hope the bags convey?

Curiosity, transparency, and our unwavering commitment to quality.

How did you choose what information to put on the bags?

With such little real estate to work with, it becomes challenging, but our goal was to keep it simple and approachable, and this is what guided the process.

The grid-based label helps us convey quite a bit of information about our producers in a digestible way. The glossary and home brewing tips became our way of conveying our dedication to education and hospitality. 

What's the vibe of the bags in three words?

Approachable, curious, intentional