How We Name Our Coffees (the Naming Convention That Keeps Our Shelves Straight)

If you've ever ordered from a coffee roastery and noticed the bag just says "Ethiopia Yirgacheffe" or "Colombia Huila" without a clever brand name, you've seen a roastery that uses an origin-first naming convention. We do. The convention is more deliberate than it looks, and it's the result of trying several approaches over the years.

This is the inside view of how we name our coffees, why we use the convention we do, and what the practical benefits are for us and for the customers who order from us.

The naming convention

Every coffee in our catalog has a name that follows the same format:

`[Origin] [Region/Farm] [Processing] [Roast Level]`

Examples from our catalog:

• "Colombia Huila Washed Medium"
• "Ethiopia Yirgacheffe Natural Light"
• "Sumatra Mandheling Wet-Hulled Dark"
• "Brazil Cerrado Natural Medium"
• "Kenya Nyeri Washed Light"

The format is consistent across all coffees. The only things that change are the variables.

Why we use origin-first naming

The naming convention came out of trying several alternatives:

• Brand-name approach. We tried giving each coffee a brand name (like "Sundown" or "North Star" for specific origins). The problem: customers couldn't remember which name went with which origin. The bag said "Sundown" but the cup was Ethiopian. It confused everyone.
• Tasting-note approach. We tried naming coffees after their dominant flavor (like "Blueberry" for an Ethiopian Yirgacheffe or "Chocolate" for a Brazilian). The problem: tasting notes shift between harvests. A "Blueberry" Ethiopian this year might taste different next year. The name didn't survive.
• Roast-level approach. We tried naming coffees by roast level ("Light," "Medium," "Dark"). The problem: customers couldn't tell which origin was which. The names were too generic.

Origin-first naming was the only approach that was both informative and stable:

• Customers can predict the cup. A "Colombia Huila" tells you the country and the region. A "Brazil Cerrado" tells you the country. The cup profile is roughly predictable from the origin.
• The names are stable across harvests. A Yirgacheffe is a Yirgacheffe whether it's from this year's harvest or last year's. The name doesn't need to change.
• The format is consistent. Every coffee in the catalog has the same structure. Customers can read the label without learning a new naming system each time.

The format is boring on purpose. Boring is good. The cup is interesting; the name is functional.

What's in each part of the name

Breaking down the convention:

• Origin. The country where the coffee was grown. This is always present. Some countries have multiple growing regions; the next field specifies which one.
• Region/Farm. The specific growing region or farm. This is present for most countries. For countries with one main growing region (Hawaii, Sumatra, Jamaica Blue Mountain), the region is implied by the origin name.
• Processing. The method used to remove the fruit from the bean. Washed, natural, honey, wet-hulled, or other. This is always present because it significantly affects the cup.
• Roast Level. Light, medium, or dark. This is always present.

Every part of the name is doing work. The customer can read the label and know what they're getting.

Why we don't use brand names

The decision not to use brand names is intentional:

• Brand names add cost without adding value. A "Mountain Sunset Blend" doesn't tell you anything about the cup. It costs the same to print, but the customer gets less information.
• Brand names make switching harder. If a customer prefers "Mountain Sunset" but it's out of stock, they have to learn a new name. With origin-first naming, the customer can find a similar cup by looking at the origin.
• Brand names age poorly. A clever name from this year can sound dated in five years. An origin name is timeless.
• Brand names imply the roastery is selling a "product." We're selling coffee from a specific place, processed a specific way. The naming should reflect that.

The decision was more controversial internally than you'd expect. Some of us liked the idea of brand names. But the practical benefits of origin-first naming won out.

How we handle naming conflicts

Some countries have multiple growing regions with similar names. A few examples:

• Colombia. Has Huila, Antioquia, Tolima, Nariño, and others. Each is named separately.
• Brazil. Has Cerrado, Sul de Minas, Mogiana, and others. Each is named separately.
• Ethiopia. Has Yirgacheffe, Sidamo, Guji, Harrar, and others. Each is named separately.

The naming convention handles these by listing the specific region after the country. "Colombia Huila" and "Colombia Tolima" are different coffees. The country is the same but the region is different.

For coffees with multiple lots from the same region (a common situation), we use lot numbers or harvest dates to distinguish them. "Ethiopia Yirgacheffe Lot 3" might be a specific lot within the Yirgacheffe region. The naming stays consistent.

What we don't include in the name

The convention has limits:

• We don't include the specific farm. Most of our coffees are aggregated from multiple small farms within a region. Naming the specific farm would be misleading.
• We don't include the altitude. Altitude affects the cup, but most customers don't know what altitude numbers mean. We include altitude on the product page if it's relevant.
• We don't include the varietal. Most regions grow multiple varietals. Naming the varietal in the bag name would be misleading. We include it on the product page.
• We don't include the harvest year. Most customers don't track harvest years the way wine drinkers do. We include it on the product page.

The bag name has to be short and scannable. Detailed information goes on the product page. The bag tells you what the coffee is; the product page tells you why it matters.

How the convention scales as we grow

The naming convention scales well as the catalog grows:

• Adding a new coffee. Any new coffee can be named with the same format. No new naming system to learn.
• Retiring a coffee. When a coffee is out of stock, it goes off the site. The name doesn't carry over to a different coffee.
• Substituting a coffee. If a coffee is out of stock, we don't substitute a different origin under the same name. The customer would notice.
• Reintroducing a coffee. When a coffee comes back (same origin, same processing), it gets the same name. Customers who liked it can find it again.

The format is rigid on purpose. Flexibility in naming is the enemy of clarity.

What the customer gets from the convention

A few practical benefits for the customer:

• Predictability. The same coffee in the catalog today will have the same name next year.
• Comparison. Customers can compare two coffees by looking at the format. The differences (origin, processing, roast) are visible at a glance.
• Memory. Customers can remember the names. "I liked the Colombia Huila last time" is easier to remember than "I liked the brand-name coffee with the mountain logo."
• Reordering. When a customer wants to reorder, they can search the origin or region and find what they want.

The naming convention is part of how we make the catalog easy to navigate. The bag is informative on purpose.

How we name tea

The same convention applies to tea:

• "Jasmine Dragon Phoenix Pearl"
• "Sencha First Flush"
• "Hojicha Roasted Green"
• "Earl Grey Ceylon"

Tea naming has more brand-name history than coffee (the tea industry has been using brand names for centuries). We use a mix of origin-first and traditional names for tea, depending on what's most useful for the customer. For single-origin teas, we use origin-first. For blends with established names, we use the traditional name.

How the convention affects our marketing

The naming convention is also useful for marketing:

• Email subject lines. "New Colombia Huila just landed" tells the customer what's new.
• Social media posts. The same format works for captions. "Today's cup: Ethiopia Yirgacheffe Natural Light."
• Blog posts. Origin-first naming is consistent with the way we write about coffee in blog posts.

The format is functional across all our content. The bag, the website, the email, the social posts all use the same naming system.

The honest answer

The honest answer is that the naming convention is boring. It doesn't have a clever brand name. It doesn't have a story attached to each bag. It just has the country, the region, the processing, and the roast.

We think that's the right trade-off. The story of a coffee is the cup. The naming convention tells you what the cup is. The two are separate.

If you've ever wondered why our bags look the way they do, the naming convention is part of the answer. The bags are designed to be scannable, the names are designed to be informative, and the format is designed to be consistent. The bag is a tool, not a brand statement.

A practical tip for new customers

If you're new to the catalog, the format is simple:

• Country + region = origin. Where the coffee was grown.
• Washed, natural, etc. = processing. How the fruit was removed from the bean.
• Light, medium, dark = roast level. How dark the bean was roasted.

The cup will be different for each combination. The name tells you what the cup is. The product page tells you why it matters.

Brew slow. Sip slow. — and the next time you order from us, the name on the bag will tell you what you're getting. The cup will tell you why.

P.S. If you want to read about how we choose which coffees make the catalog at all, how we decide which coffees make the lineup every quarter walks through our selection criteria. And if you want to know more about what we look for when we taste, how we taste-test new coffees covers the process.