Our story featured in BeanScene Magazine - A defining moment in Ranges Coffee's story

We're thrilled to share that Ranges Coffee was recently featured in BeanScene Magazine. The article explores our partnership with Trimatt printing and how we make our products look and feel great.

Read on to discover the full story as told by BeanScene's team, and gain insight into the philosophy and craftsmanship that define Ranges Coffee.

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A defining moment in Ranges Coffee’s story by Myles Hume

A defining moment in Ranges Coffee’s story wasn’t a dramatic change in its roasting method, but a packaging solution that helped it fully realise potential it had long seen in the Victorian coffee scene.

When Trimatt Systems Founder Matt Johnson stops for a coffee in the Yarra Valley, he often notices something familiar before he even reaches the counter. Lined up behind the espresso machine or stacked near the register are coffee bags he recognises instantly – not by the logo, but by the way they’re printed.

“Even though it has the café’s own branding on them, I hazard a guess and ask if they have their beans roasted at Ranges Coffee,” he says. “The barista often looks at me puzzled and says, ‘yes, but why are you asking?’ and I reply, ‘because I build a machine that prints on those bags’.”

For Matt, these moments are a sign of how his customisable, industrial digital colour printing solution – designed and manufactured in Boronia, also in Melbourne’s east – can help Australian coffee roasters improve, expand and even “supercharge” their operations. 

The Ranges Coffee story exemplifies this. The Lilydale roaster, led by owner Gavin Williams, began to see packaging less as a finishing touch, and more as an opportunity to unlock a more scalable private label business while also innovating with its own branded products.

That moment crystallised when the roaster discovered Trimatt’s ColourStar AQ, which enables small- to medium-sized businesses to perform customised digital colour printing on packaging. Although Trimatt and Ranges Coffee are located just 15km apart, their worlds collided at the Melbourne International Coffee Expo in 2023, culminating in a deal months later.

“What caught our attention was the flexibility of the ColourStar AQ system: food-safe inks, local support, and the ability to run anything from a single coffee bag through to longer print runs,” says Joshua Williams, Head of Marketing at Ranges Coffee.

“By and large the coffee industry is made up of small operators who want to try new ideas without having to commit to huge volumes or outlay. Instead of being locked into large offshore print runs, generic bags, labels applied on site or using stamps – all methods Ranges had applied before – the ColourStar AQ has made it possible to print high quality packaging on-demand.”

The ColourStar AQ is put to work daily at Ranges Coffee in various ways.

The roaster prints its own branded bags which are supplied to wholesale café customers or purchased through its retail business by consumers.

For cafés wanting their own branded bags – but with Ranges-roasted beans – it can offer this too, known as private label roasting. “Investing in the technology from Trimatt has allowed Ranges to significantly expand our private label business, with the ability to produce far more elaborate and intricate packaging designs for our customers,” Joshua says.

“Customised packaging helps build story and a sense of community. For us, it comes back to relationships – strengthening the connection between a café and its customers, and also between us and the café businesses we work with. It changes the experience, and how people feel about the product.”

Ranges Coffee also enjoys a level of agility it couldn’t previously. Coffee bag designs can be developed or changed easily, new concepts or limited releases able to be rapidly taken to market, and private label customers are given more freedom through customised packaging. 

“Our new Black Spur blend is an example of this. A wholesale customer was looking for a specific flavour profile, so our head roaster worked with them to develop it. The response was so good that it was launched as a standalone product,” Joshua says.

“Because Ranges wasn’t held up in a graphic design or packaging pipeline, the blend went from concept to being roasted, stocked and for sale within a matter of weeks.

“It’s improved our ability to keep product out and available. The last thing we want is the inability to deliver product because the packaging isn’t ready.”

Clued into coffee

For Matt, who founded Trimatt in 2005, MICE23 clarified the opportunity he sensed in the coffee industry. There was excitement about how his solution could overcome longstanding issues with coffee bean packaging.

At the expo, Trimatt secured a contract with another roaster separate to Ranges Coffee and won the Product Innovation Award for Coffee Accessories.

It’s a big reason why the company will be returning to MICE26 taking place 26-28 March.

“Three years down the track, we now have a healthy pool of enquiries from the coffee industry. There’s more awareness of what our systems offer, and we feel it’s the right time to return to MICE, increase brand exposure, and make our equipment available to businesses who haven’t yet had the chance to see it in person,” Matt says.

“The main customers we want to reach aren’t just businesses printing for their own in-house products. We’re targeting businesses that see an opportunity in producing generic brands and selling coffee under smaller, own-brand packaging.” 

For more information, visit trimatt.com