Min. 100 units · 3–5 days
Tea Boxes
Custom Food Packaging
Specify thisCustom Food Packaging
Coffee Boxes
Coffee Boxes built to your specification — your dimensions, your board, your print.
- Minimum order
- 100 units
- Production
- 3–5 business days
- Construction
- folding carton
- Delivery
- US, UK, Canada, Australia
No obligation
Start a quote
Name, email, phone and what you are packing and the volumes you run. Attach artwork if you have it. We reply with a specification and a written price, usually within one business day.
What coffee boxes have to cope with
Coffee Boxes hold retail bags or pods of roasted coffee — the carton presents, the bag protects. That is the starting point for the specification, because separating the two jobs is the saving here: barrier on the inner bag, print quality and rigidity on the outer carton.
In service they are used for specialty retail shelves and subscription despatch, where the carton is the visible brand.
Where coffee boxes are actually used
Coffee Boxes are specified for specialty retail shelves and subscription despatch, where the carton is the visible brand. Separating the two jobs is the saving here: barrier on the inner bag, print quality and rigidity on the outer carton.
- Specialty retail shelves and subscription despatch, where the carton is the visible brand
- Shelf display in specialty retail
- Subscription and gift sets
- E-commerce inner packaging
The substrate for coffee boxes
16pt SBS with a good print face. No barrier is needed on the carton because the inner bag provides it.
The options we would consider for this format are below; separating the two jobs is the saving here: barrier on the inner bag, print quality and rigidity on the outer carton.
- 12pt SBS paperboard
- 14pt SBS paperboard
- 16pt SBS paperboard
- 18pt kraft board
- recycled CCNB board
Printing coffee boxes
Offset with a spot colour, since roasters usually hold a precise brand colour across a range of origins.
Offset lithography, Digital press, Flexography are all available for this format. Run length usually decides which is cheapest: digital removes the plate cost on short quantities, offset and flexo overtake it at volume.
Finishing coffee boxes
Offset with a spot colour, since roasters usually hold a precise brand colour across a range of origins.
Each finish below is a separate pass on the press or the finishing line, which is why they are quoted individually rather than bundled.
- Gloss lamination
- Matte lamination
- Soft-touch lamination
- Spot UV
- Foil stamping
- Embossing
- Debossing
- Aqueous coating
Sizing coffee boxes
Sized around a 250 g or 1 kg bag, commonly 4 × 3 × 8 in and 7 × 5 × 11 in respectively.
Send the contents rather than a box size. Roasters ask for a barrier board and a valve on the carton. The valve belongs on the bag; the carton only needs to present and stack.
Holding coffee boxes before service
The carton is specified as if it needs a barrier, adding cost for protection the inner bag is already providing.
Paperboard also absorbs moisture from the air until it equalises with its surroundings. If stock sits more than about six weeks in unconditioned space, a moisture-resistant coating is worth its small premium.
Preparing artwork
Supply artwork on the dieline we send you, with 3 mm bleed past every trim edge and all text held 4 mm inside the fold lines.
Supply a print-ready PDF or vector file with fonts outlined and images at 300 dpi. Our prepress team checks every file before a proof is issued. The check that catches most files is type sitting too close to a crease, which is easier to move at layout than at proof.
How an order runs
The useful starting point is the product, not the pack. Give us its measurements and the quantity, and we work the folding carton outward from there.
A dieline template follows, sized to your product. Prepress checks your artwork against it and issues a proof; nothing runs until you sign that off.
What buyers get wrong with coffee boxes
Roasters ask for a barrier board and a valve on the carton. The valve belongs on the bag; the carton only needs to present and stack.
The rest of these come up often enough across the format to be worth stating plainly.
- Specifying board weight without saying how hot or greasy the contents are.
- Forgetting that a pack carried at an angle in a courier bag behaves differently to one on a counter.
- Choosing a vented lid for a dish that needs to stay hot, or a sealed one for a dish that needs to stay crisp.
- Ordering a year of stock that then sits through a humid summer.
Checking it before you commit
Ask for an unprinted sample if the question is fit, or a printed prototype if the question is colour. They answer different things.
Sample costs are normally credited against the production order.
Reference
Coffee Boxes at a specification level
| Product | Coffee Boxes |
|---|---|
| Category | Custom Food Packaging |
| Construction | Die-cut, creased and seam-glued |
| Board thickness | 12pt – 18pt depending on product weight |
| Ships as | Flat-packed, glued one seam |
| Materials | 12pt SBS paperboard, 14pt SBS paperboard, 16pt SBS paperboard, 18pt kraft board |
| Printing | Offset lithography, Digital press, Flexography |
| Finishes | Gloss lamination, Matte lamination, Soft-touch lamination, Spot UV, Foil stamping |
| Minimum order | Minimum order is 100 units on any format, and unit cost falls sharply as the quantity rises. |
| Lead time | 3 to 5 business days after artwork approval |
| Shipping | Across the US, UK, Canada and Australia |
Specification builder
Specify Coffee Boxes in under a minute
Set what you know, leave the rest. Everything here travels with your request, so nothing gets retyped.
- 100-unit minimum
- 3–5 day production
- Free dieline
- No obligation
Coffee Boxes
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What you get
Where this holds up on a line
Fitted to what goes in it
Sized around a 250 g or 1 kg bag, commonly 4 × 3 × 8 in and 7 × 5 × 11 in respectively.
The failure worth avoiding
The carton is specified as if it needs a barrier, adding cost for protection the inner bag is already providing.
Where it has to work
Specified for specialty retail shelves and subscription despatch, where the carton is the visible brand.
The detail that decides it
Separating the two jobs is the saving here: barrier on the inner bag, print quality and rigidity on the outer carton.
This format sits in our custom food packaging range, alongside 33 other made-to-order formats.
Answers
Running coffee boxes: common questions
Specification, minimums and lead times for coffee boxes.
Are these food-contact compliant?
We specify food-contact compliant boards and inks where the pack touches food directly. Tell us whether contact is direct or through a liner for coffee boxes, because it changes which stocks are available to you.
How do you stop grease showing through?
A grease-resistant coating or a greaseproof liner. Untreated board will always strike through eventually with hot, oily food — that is a property of the material rather than a quality fault, and it is inexpensive to design out.
Do coffee boxes arrive flat or assembled?
Flat and glued along one seam, so they pop open on your packing line. That keeps freight cost down considerably compared with a pre-assembled structure.
What do coffee boxes cost?
Prices start from $0.30 per piece for large-volume orders. For this format the biggest levers are quantity, print route, board grade and how many finishing passes are involved. We quote each element separately so you can see where the money is going. Finishing passes are the lever buyers most often underestimate: each one is a separate run through the line.
Can I see a sample first?
Yes. We can send a plain unprinted sample so you can check the fit and structure, or a printed prototype for colour and finish. Sample costs are normally credited against the production order. Worth running a few through your actual line rather than checking them by hand: fill speed and hot contents find fit problems that a desk check does not.
Can you match packaging we already use?
Send the current specification or a physical sample and we will quote to match it rather than proposing an alternative you would then have to re-approve internally. Tell us the coating on the pack you are matching too. Grease and moisture resistance are not visible in a sample and they change which stocks we can quote.
Where do you deliver?
All 50 US states, the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia, on the same timeline everywhere: 3 to 5 business days of production after artwork approval, then 5 to 7 business days in transit. Every run is made to order and shipped directly to your address rather than pulled from stock, so you receive current production rather than whatever has been sitting in a warehouse. Freight is costed separately by weight, volume and destination. If stock is going into a kitchen or a service counter rather than a warehouse, tell us — case sizes that a single person can lift and store matter more there than pallet efficiency.
Can I order coffee boxes in a custom size?
Every run is cut to your dimensions — there are no stock sizes here. Send the product measurements rather than a box size and we will build the folding carton around them, then send a dieline template you can design onto.
What happens after I approve the quote?
We issue a dieline template sized to your product, prepress checks your artwork against it, and a proof comes back for sign-off. Nothing runs until you approve that proof, and folding cartons then take 3 to 5 business days.
Can you hold the specification for repeat orders?
Yes. Once a first run is approved we hold the board, structure, dimensions, print method and finishes against your account, so a reorder references the same specification exactly rather than being re-derived. The board and coating are held together, so a reorder cannot quietly arrive on a stock with different grease resistance.
Do you offer recycled or recyclable options?
Recycled grades are available across most of the substrates we run for folding cartons. Recycled content, kerbside recyclability and certified compostability are three different claims though, so tell us which one you intend to print.
What file format should I send artwork in?
A print-ready PDF or a vector file, with fonts outlined and any raster images at 300 dpi at final size. We supply the dieline to design onto, and prepress checks bleed, safe area and crease clearance before issuing a proof. The dieline we supply carries the crease positions, so keeping type clear of a crease is easier to solve at layout than at proof.
Next step
Quote Coffee Boxes
Send the fill size and the volumes you run. We reply with a full specification and a written price, usually within one business day.