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Selling pre-packed coffee in the UK means your packaging needs to carry the food information that applies to your product. This guide explains the main points to consider when creating labels for roasted coffee beans, ground coffee, coffee bags, pouches and jars.
Pre-packed coffee sold in the UK must display certain mandatory information. Exactly what you need can vary depending on the coffee product, its ingredients and how it is sold, so use this as a practical starting checklist and check the current requirements for your finished product.
Your label needs a clear product name so customers can understand exactly what they are buying. Your brand or blend name can sit alongside the legal name of the Coffee, but the overall presentation must not be misleading.
Pre-packed coffee generally needs its net quantity shown in grams (g) or kilograms (kg). The name of the Coffee and net quantity need to be visible in the same field of vision.
Pre-packed coffee will normally need an appropriate durability date, commonly a best-before date. The business responsible for the product must determine the correct date marking.
Coffee products generally require lot or batch identification for traceability. In some circumstances a suitably expressed date mark can fulfil the lot-marking requirement.
Pre-packed coffee must show the relevant food business operator's name and a qualifying physical postal address. An email address or telephone number alone is not sufficient.
Add any necessary storage conditions or instructions, such as how the coffee should be stored after opening. Brewing guidance can also be included voluntarily.
You do not have to squeeze every piece of information onto the front of the pouch. Many coffee brands use the front for the main product identity and branding, then place supporting mandatory and voluntary information on the back.
The labelling requirements can change when your coffee contains more than one ingredient. Multi-ingredient coffee products will generally need an ingredients list, with ingredients shown in descending order by weight.
If an ingredient is one of the regulated allergens, it must be emphasised within the ingredients list using a distinguishing typeface, style or background.
A simple roasted coffee product may have a much cleaner information panel than a flavoured or formulated coffee product.
If the product contains additional ingredients, check whether you need an ingredients list, allergen emphasis, quantitative ingredient declarations or other statements relevant to those ingredients.
Compliance is not only about what appears on the label. Mandatory information also needs to be presented clearly and legibly.
Government guidance states that mandatory information should normally use a font with a minimum x-height of 1.2mm. This is an x-height measurement, not simply a font point size.
Where the largest surface area of the packaging is less than 80cm², guidance allows a minimum x-height of 0.9mm.
Coffee is not listed in the general GOV.UK guidance among the foods that always require country-of-origin labelling. However, origin or provenance information is required where omitting it could mislead customers, and additional rules can apply when an origin claim is made but a primary ingredient comes from somewhere else.
Many speciality coffee brands voluntarily feature information such as Ethiopia, Colombia or Brazil prominently because provenance is part of the product story.
If words, imagery or presentation could make customers believe the coffee comes from a different place, origin information may be needed to clarify the true origin.
If you make a country or place-of-origin claim for the coffee, check whether rules concerning the origin of the primary ingredient are triggered.
Once the required information is covered, your label can also help customers understand the coffee and your brand. These details are often useful, but voluntary information must still be accurate and must not mislead.
Light, medium or dark roast information can help shoppers quickly understand the style of coffee.
Descriptors such as chocolate, citrus, nutty or floral can give customers a useful indication of the intended flavour profile.
Add grind, dose, water or brewing suggestions where useful, particularly for speciality coffee.
A roast date can be added alongside the required durability information where it forms part of your product presentation.
Make different coffees easy to identify using blend names, origin names or clearly differentiated designs.
A QR code can link to brewing guides, traceability stories or product pages, but should not replace information that must appear on the packaging.
Once you know how much information your label needs to carry, choose the format that suits your production volume and packaging process.
Choose from our stock A4 sheet sizes and materials, then print your coffee labels in-house.
Shop blank labels →Use our printed sheet-label options for smaller runs when you want finished artwork professionally printed for you.
Shop personalised labels →Custom printed roll labels for growing coffee brands, larger quantities and repeat packing runs.
Shop coffee roll labels →Use our coffee label guides and products together to choose a practical size, plan your artwork and order the right supply format.
Compare practical sizes for 250g, 500g and 1kg coffee bags and pouches.
Choose your size →Printed roll labels for coffee pouches, bags, jars and growing product ranges.
Shop roll labels →Stock A4 sheet labels for businesses printing coffee labels themselves.
Shop blank labels →Have your finished coffee artwork professionally printed onto A4 label sheets.
Shop personalised →Compliance note: This page is general guidance, not legal advice. Check the current official requirements for your product and sales market: GOV.UK — what food labels must show, food information guidance, and ingredients and allergen guidance.
Tell us your pouch, bag or jar dimensions, quantity and whether you need blank, personalised or roll labels. We can help you choose a practical label size and supply format.