Coffee, tea, herbs, and spices share a packaging challenge that most other food categories don't have to think about quite as carefully: flavour and aroma are the entire product. A beautifully branded pouch that lets moisture in or aroma out isn't just a cosmetic problem — it's a product quality problem, and your customer will notice.
Here's a complete, practical guide to choosing the right pouch, material, and features for a coffee, tea, herb, or spice brand.
Step 1: Choose Your Pouch Format
Stand Up Pouches have a gusseted base that lets them stand upright with a slightly tapered silhouette. They're the most common and cost-efficient format across this category, and they work well for a wide range of pack sizes — from a small 50g spice pouch to a larger 500g–1kg coffee bag.
Flat Bottom Pouches have a wider, flat rectangular base — more stable on a shelf, with additional surface area on the base panel for extra branding, certification logos, or ingredient information. They read as a more premium format, which is why they're popular for specialty coffee and premium tea brands specifically, even though they cost more per unit than a standard stand up pouch.
A simple rule of thumb: if your product is positioned as an everyday, accessible purchase, a stand up pouch is usually the right starting point. If you're positioning as a specialty or premium product, a flat bottom pouch often better matches that positioning on shelf.
Step 2: Choose Your Material — Kraft Paper or BOPP Plastic
Evenpack offers three printing routes for pouches, and which materials are available to you depends on which route fits your order size:
| Order Quantity | Printing Method | Materials Available | Per-Unit Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| From 100 pouches | Evenpack Low-MOQ Digital | Kraft paper (brown or white, full colour) · BOPP plastic (single or two-colour printing, design-dependent) | Mid-range |
| From 1,000 pouches | Digital (HP Indigo) | Kraft paper or BOPP plastic — fully customisable, full colour | Slightly higher |
| 10,000–20,000 pouches | Rotogravure | Kraft paper, BOPP plastic, or aluminium foil — fully customisable | Lowest per unit, plus a one-time cylinder/setup charge |
Price follows a fairly predictable pattern across the three routes. Evenpack's low-MOQ digital sits in the middle — more affordable than standard HP Indigo digital printing, without the volume commitment or setup cost of rotogravure. Rotogravure has the lowest per-unit price of the three, but only once your order size is large enough to justify its one-time cylinder or setup charge, which is paid upfront regardless of exact quantity. For the full cost breakdown across all three methods, see our dedicated guide to stand up pouch pricing and MOQs.
If you're testing a new product or placing your first small batch, kraft paper — in brown or white — gives you full-colour customisation at the 100-pouch tier. BOPP plastic is also available at 100 pouches, though printing at this tier is limited to single-colour or two-colour designs, depending on your artwork — for a fully customisable, full-colour BOPP pouch, you'll need to move up to the 1,000-pouch digital tier. At full bulk volumes (10,000+), aluminium-based structures also become available, typically chosen where maximum barrier protection and longer shelf life are the priority. Since exact colour and design possibilities depend on your specific artwork, it's worth discussing your design directly with our team before finalising material and quantity.
Kraft (natural brown) is close to an industry default for this category — the natural, warm aesthetic reads as artisanal and closely aligned with how consumers already think about coffee, tea, and spice products.
White Kraft gives a cleaner, brighter base for full-colour photography or a more contemporary, minimalist look.
BOPP plastic (available from 1,000 pouches upward for full customisation) offers a glossier surface and different barrier properties than a kraft-based laminate — worth discussing with our team if your product has specific moisture or shelf-life requirements.
Step 3: Decide on a Resealable Zipper
For any product that's used across multiple servings — ground coffee, loose leaf tea, spice blends used in regular cooking — a resealable zipper is close to essential rather than optional. For single-use or gift-sized formats, a non-resealable pouch can be a reasonable and slightly more cost-effective choice.
Step 4: Consider a Window
A clear window panel lets your customer see the actual product before buying, which is a meaningful trust signal for whole bean coffee, loose leaf tea, and visibly appealing spice blends.
A Note on Freshness and Barrier Needs
Whole bean and ground coffee are the most sensitive to oxygen and moisture exposure, and freshly roasted coffee also releases carbon dioxide for days after roasting — if you're a fresh-roast coffee brand, it's worth discussing degassing considerations directly with our team.
Loose leaf and bagged tea need reliable moisture protection above all — tea absorbs ambient humidity and odours easily.
Whole and ground spices vary widely — whole spices hold their flavour far longer than ground.
Choosing Your Size Range
Most coffee, tea, herb, and spice brands need at least two or three sizes: a smaller trial or gifting size, a standard retail size, and sometimes a larger bulk size. Plan your full size range upfront so your branding and dieline setup can extend cleanly later.
Frequently Asked Questions
Should I choose a stand up pouch or a flat bottom pouch for my coffee brand? Either works well functionally — the decision is mostly about positioning. Flat bottom pouches read as more premium and are common among specialty coffee brands; stand up pouches are more cost-effective and are the more common choice for everyday, accessible coffee brands.
Is kraft paper packaging suitable for coffee and tea, or does it let too much moisture through? Evenpack's kraft stand up and flat bottom pouches are laminate structures, not plain uncoated kraft paper — the kraft look sits on the outer surface while internal layers provide moisture and barrier protection.
Can I get BOPP plastic pouches at your 100-pouch minimum order? Yes — BOPP plastic is available at the 100-pouch tier, though printing at that quantity is limited to single-colour or two-colour designs, depending on your artwork. For a fully customisable, full-colour BOPP pouch, 1,000 pouches or more is required, produced digitally on HP Indigo presses. For orders of 10,000–20,000+ pouches, kraft, BOPP, and aluminium-based structures are all available via rotogravure printing with full customisation. Since the exact colour possibilities depend on your specific design, it's worth discussing your artwork directly with our team.
Do I need a resealable zipper for a spice pouch? For any spice product used across multiple cooking occasions, yes — it meaningfully extends freshness. For single-use gift or sample formats, it's optional.
What size pouch should I start with? Start with your primary retail size — the one most of your customers will actually buy — and plan for a smaller trial size and a larger bulk size later.
Can I get a custom pouch size that's not in your standard range? Yes — share your target weight and product density with our team and we'll recommend the right pouch dimensions.
Where can I learn about pricing and minimum order quantities for pouches? We've covered pricing, MOQs, and the different printing methods in detail in our dedicated guide to stand up pouch printing and MOQs.
Whether you're launching your first spice blend or scaling a specialty coffee brand, Evenpack produces stand up and flat bottom pouches from just 100 pouches — kraft paper in full colour, and BOPP plastic with single or two-colour printing at this quantity, with fully customisable full-colour BOPP available from 1,000 pouches upward — with or without resealable zippers and windows. Browse our Stand Up Pouches collection or our Kraft Flat Bottom Pouches, or get in touch with our team.
