For a coffee business, it is critical to decide the packaging materials for your coffee, as it not only protect freshness, and also create the profile you stand in the market. Among various flexible packaging materials, kraft paper has secured a long-term position in coffee packaging—not as a trend, but as a practical and strategic solution.
As a reliable manufacturer of coffee bags for specialty roasters and large OEM producers all over the world for more than 15 years, we have been utilising kraft paper to meet the evolving needs of our customers.
In this article, we will explain how kraft paper benefits the coffee packaging industry, and why it remains a reliable material for modern coffee brands.
1. Kraft Paper Supports Strong Brand Storytelling
Coffee is a product driven by origin, craftsmanship, and authenticity. Kraft paper naturally aligns with these values. Its tactile texture and natural appearance help convey artisanal quality, sustainability awareness, transparency and honesty to the customers. Environmental responsibility of a business can be easily perceived by the consumers on the sight of a kraft paper coffee package, without relying on complex printing techniques or artwork information.
For most of the world-famous coffee brands, they are surely launching some of their products in kraft paper packages and strengthening their brand story.
2. Cost Efficiency Across the Packaging Value Chain
One of the most practical benefits of kraft paper is its cost efficiency when evaluated across the entire packaging system.
Material-Level Savings
Among all the flexible packaging materials, kraft paper should be considered as the lowest cost, however achieve functional packages with other inner materials.
The weight and thickness of commonly used kraft paper in the coffee packaging industry are listed in below table.
| Kraft Paper | Weight (gsm) | Thickness (Approximately) |
| Kraft Paper 40gsm | 40 | 60 |
| Kraft Paper 45gsm | 45 | 65 |
| Kraft Paper 50gsm | 50 | 70 |
| Kraft Paper 60gsm | 60 | 80 |
| Kraft Paper 70gsm | 70 | 85 |
| Kraft Paper 80gsm | 80 | 95 |
As the price of kraft paper is about half of the price of LDPE film, so the more weight of kraft paper applied, the thinner of inner LDPE film used in the laminate, which will surely reduce the overall cost of a finished bag.
Kraft paper, generally more economical than high-gloss PET film, will surely help reduce cost when it is used as an outer layer.
Normally, the price of kraft paper is more stable compared to fossil-chemical film materials. This stability also helps us to offer stable prices for the long-term procurement budgets of our customers.
Printing-Level Savings
Printing on kraft paper will further lower cost. Take this C4Coffee paper bag for example, black logo and texts are printed on the brown surface of natural kraft paper. It saves the full-coverage of white background printing as on glossy PET film. One black color would be able to create a great branding, which helps to reduce the quantity of print cylinders needed.
Furthremore, kraft paper works so well with simple typography and line art, so you may not need so much investment in complex artwork design.
Reduction of Production Waste
Kraft paper is more stable with dimension. It will reduce the production waste during laminating with other polymer film materials. And the kraft paper laminate works better during converting and pouch forming, leading to lower reject rates and reduced material waste in our manufacturing plant.
3. Compatibility With High-Performance Barrier Structures
Kraft paper is porous substrate made from the wood pulp produced through the kraft (sulfate) pulping process, so it has to laminate with other barrier film, to provide the barrier property required by coffee. Luckily, kraft paper is compatible with most of the high-barrier films in flexible packaging industry.
The table below list the typical values of WVTR (short for water vapor transmission rate) and OTR (short for oxygen transmission rate) of common high-barrier films applied for coffee packaging.
| Film Material | Structure Description | OTR* (cc/m²·day) (23 °C, 0% RH) | WVTR* (g/m²·day) (38 °C, 90% RH) | Barrier Level |
| Aluminum Foil (Al) | Pure aluminum foil (≈6–9 μm) | ≈ 0 | ≈ 0 | Ultra-high |
| VMPET | Vacuum-metallized PET | 0.1~1.05 | 0.2~0.95 | High |
| AlOx-PET | Aluminum oxide coated PET | 0.5 – 2.0 | 0.5 – 2.0 | High |
| SiOx-PET | Silicon oxide coated PET | 0.5 – 1.0 | 0.3 – 0.8 | High |
| EVOH-LDPE | EVOH coextruded LDPE film | 0.1 – 1.0 | 3.0 – 8.0 | Medium |
Usually, the high-barrier films are trapped between kraft paper and LDPE sealing layer. Kraft paper either works on the outside as print substrate, or another film layer like Matte BOPP or gloss PET film to carry the information of a complex artwork.
The list stipulates the most commonly used foil laminates based on kraft paper.
- (Matte BOPP/PET)/Kraft paper/Al /LDPE
- (Matte BOPP/PET)/Kraft paper/VMPET/ LDPE
- (Matte BOPP/PET)/Kraft paper/VMPET/EVOH-LDPE
- (Matte BOPP/PET)/Kraft paper/AlOx-PET/LDPE
- (Matte BOPP/PET)/Kraft paper/SiOx-PET/EVOH-LDPE
These foil laminates are able to provide the preservation function requested by whole bean and ground coffee, and you are advised to reach us for ideas if you want to have a further understanding on the performance of each laminate.
Furthermore, Kraft paper can be lined with other biodegradable and compostable film materials to achieve more sustainable coffee packages, you can read here for more.
4. Strong Shelf Presence and Consumer Appeal
In retail environments, coffee packaging must stand out appealing to the consumers. Packages made of kraft paper is of great standup profile, and presents a natural, premium look, which always allow the consumers to associate with higher quality products, ethical and sustainable brands and transparent sourcing practices.
While most coffee bags on retail shelves rely on high-gloss plastic films, metallic effects, and heavy graphics. Kraft paper stands out by doing the opposite. It transfers the value of the brand by minimalist logos and clear product information, which achieve xcellent readability and brand recognition. It will not cause information overloading to the customers like some complex artworks. So, it can always create strong shelf presence and appeal to the consumers.
5. Sustainability Committment Naturally Aligned
Kraft paper is recyclable, biodegradable, compostable, and now becomes the most sustainable film material in the flexible packaging industry. It can be recycled for several times during its life cycle.
With the increasing burden of plastic pollution in this world, sustainability has become a central concern in the coffee industry. When kraft paper is applied in the coffee packaging, committment to sustainability is surely taking a big step forward.
Kraft paper provides a practical sustainability step by reducing plastic usage by weight. Unlike traditional fossil-chemical polymers, it can break down into unharmful inorganic materials when it can not be streamlined into human recycle system.
While laminated kraft paper structures are not always fully recyclable, they represent an incremental improvement that many brands can adopt immediately—without replacing machinery or supply chains.
This balance between progress and practicality benefits the industry as a whole.
9. Versatility Across Various Packaging Formats
Kraft paper is very verstile in the coffee packaging applications and can be converted to various packaging formats, which boost the businesses in a delicate way.
Kraft paper coffee cups can be supplier in single-wall cups, double-wall cups and ripple-wall cups, with sufficient rigidity for hot beverages, good printability for logos and patterns, and compatibility with PE or water-based barrier coatings.
Cup sleeves can also be made of kraft paper, as it can provide effective heat insulation, easy customization with simple printing and low tooling and setup cost.
Takeaway bags are abundant with kraft paper material, as of high tear resistance, excellent stiffness and reliable handle reinforcement.
Kraft paper mailers are so welcome in the E-Commerce ready packaging, as it is of great impact resistance, print clarity for shipping and branding, and compatibility with protective inner layers.
Kraft paper trays and paper-based holders are created in large quantities for pastries, baked goods, coffee accessories and drip coffee packs, as it is easy forming and die-cutting, great structural strength for light-to-medium loads, good stackability and space efficiency.
Conclusion: Kraft Paper Is a Strategic Asset for Coffee Packaging
Kraft paper benefits the coffee packaging industry not because it is fashionable, but because it solves real commercial and operational challenges.
It delivers strong brand storytelling, cost efficiency, production stability, flexible barrier design, market-ready sustainability positioning.
For coffee brands and OEM producers who like to make the best of kraft paper, you may just reach us for more ideas. We would love to boost your business.