Key takeaways

The Boy and The Bear bridges two coffee cultures, Colombia and Sweden. That dual identity informs every packaging decision the roastery makes.
The roastery moved through three packaging formats: a tall, narrow bag with gold text, a flat-bottom pouch, then its current coffee box. Each step raised the brand experience.
For Joseph Ramon, packaging begins the coffee experience. It sets the expectation before anyone grinds a single bean.

Roaster of the Week is a series that focuses on specialty coffee roasters and their unique stories. This week, we spoke with The Boy and The Bear, a roastery that won the Best Packaging Award at the Global Coffee Awards North America. That recognition confirms what the brand has always believed: a coffee box is not just a box.

The Boy and The Bear is a specialty roastery based in Los Angeles, California, built around Colombian coffee and Scandinavian design. To learn more about that vision, we spoke to Joseph Ramon, Head Coffee Roaster at the roastery. Read on for his insights.

Two cultures, one vision at The Boy and The Bear

Andrés Piñeros founded The Boy and The Bear after growing up in Colombia and later moving to Sweden to study. Sweden’s coffee culture, one of the world’s most intensive per capita, left a lasting impression. “He fell in love with the coffee culture,” Joseph explains. “From there, he eventually had the vision to start a coffee brand that would bring Colombian coffee and Swedish culture together.”

That duality of origin laid the structural framework of the roastery and the branding. Nordic roasters have shaped how much of the world reads specialty coffee. Rituals such as fika treat the cup as a social occasion rather than a caffeine stop.

For years, The Boy and The Bear focused exclusively on Colombian coffees. The team built relationships with producers, farmers, and importers to bring in lots that expressed their origin clearly. Within the past year, the roastery has expanded to include coffees from other origins while keeping that Colombian foundation.

Joseph explains, “From our unique layout and theme to the different coffees we offer, we want coffee to feel like more than just a drink.” Their packaging signals that this consumable is, in fact, a cultural encounter, and it does so through visual cues and textures alone. Good packaging illustration builds a world rather than a logo.

From bag to box: how The Boy and The Bear’s packaging evolved

The Boy and The Bear did not arrive at its current packaging in one step. Three distinct phases mark the evolution, and each one reads as a deliberate upgrade in how the brand presents itself.

The first iteration was a tall, narrow bag carrying a design of coffee branches wrapped around the exterior, with gold text. “It was a really beautiful bag,” Joseph reflects. The aesthetic was considered and distinctive.

The second phase brought a flat-bottom pouch with an updated coffee branch design. It placed the brand more conventionally in the specialty coffee landscape while retaining its visual language. Roasters weighing the different bag formats face the same decision at some point.

The third and current form is the coffee box. “Eventually, we moved to our coffee box, which helped give the coffee a more elevated look.” The box format changes the object’s relationship with the space it occupies. Where a bag lies flat or disappears into a cupboard, a box stands on a counter or shelf and holds its presence. It invites a different quality of attention, which is why coffee packaging boxes reward a distinctive approach.

The materials and finish help the packaging achieve a state of “elegance”, in Joseph’s words. “We use beautiful textured designs, intentional colours that are pleasing to the eye, and artwork that is meant to stand out on any counter you set it on.” The tactile elements convey a level of quality customers can feel, and that matches the premium positioning. Roasters planning a similar redesign usually find the same sequence.

The experience before the opening

What distinguishes The Boy and The Bear’s philosophy from a purely aesthetic approach is how Joseph frames the packaging’s purpose. The coffee experience commences as soon as someone lays eyes on the box.

“We want them to feel that they’re getting an elevated coffee experience. From the first impression the box leaves, to the wonderful aromatics and fragrances the coffees release, and finally to the delicious and unique flavors that coffee has to offer.” The sequence is inevitable: visual impression, first aromas, then the flavour in the cup. The box comes first.

What a customer sees and holds before opening the bag sets an expectation. Everything that follows is measured against that expectation. Packaging that signals care, craft, and intentionality gives the coffee a richer context and builds a world around it. “We want the experience to start before they even open the package,” Joseph says.

A memorable unboxing does real commercial work, and roasters such as LOUMI have built their reputation on it. Exceptional packaging design also supports a higher price, which makes the investment easier to justify.

The team designed the packaging with attention to emotional and perceptual priming, alongside visual differentiation. “We wanted to let customers know that coffee can be more than just coffee. It can be an experience, and we wanted that experience to come through the design and visuals.”

An award gives that work a second life, and roasters can turn competition results into a branding opportunity long after the ceremony ends.

MTPak Coffee offers a full range of customisable coffee bags and boxes with premium finishes, low minimum order quantities, and digital printing for roasters at any stage of growth.

Contact our team to talk through your next format.

FAQ

What makes The Boy and The Bear’s packaging distinctive?

The packaging combines textured finishes, a considered colour palette, and original artwork in a coffee box format that lifts the product’s visual presence on any surface. Every design element signals that the contents go beyond a standard specialty coffee.

What is the origin story behind The Boy and The Bear?

Andrés Piñeros founded the brand after growing up in Colombia and later studying in Sweden. Swedish coffee culture led him to build a roastery around Colombian coffee and Scandinavian design. That dual identity runs through the name, the aesthetic, and the packaging.

Why did The Boy and The Bear move from bags to a coffee box?

The shift came from a desire to elevate the customer’s first impression. Earlier bag formats looked distinctive, but a box creates a different relationship between the object and the space around it. It holds its presence on a counter in a way a bag does not.