Selling it

What the label has to carry

Updated October 2026

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The required elements The roast date is the useful one Roasted on and best before are different claims Grind and brew method Storage advice is worth the space Order labels after the container Flavored products change the ingredient line References

With no standard of identity to meet, the general labeling rules are the whole requirement, and the most useful thing on the package is not required at all.

The required elements

Statement of identity, in words a buyer recognizes.
Net quantity, from the container and the fill.
Ingredients, which for a single-origin coffee is one line and for a flavored blend is not.
Allergens where relevant, which matters for flavored products and shared equipment.
Name and place of business of the responsible party.

The roast date is the useful one

It is not required and it is what informed buyers look for, because it is the only thing on a bag that tells them where in the product’s life they are. Printing it is a commitment to selling fresh stock rather than clearing old, which is exactly why some roasters avoid it.

Roasted on and best before are different claims

One is a fact and the other is a prediction. Carrying both is the most honest option: the date it was made, and your view of how long it stays good. Carrying only a best-before lets a bag of six-month-old coffee look identical to a fresh one.

Grind and brew method

If it is ground, say what for. A bag labeled simply ground is a guess that will be wrong for most buyers, and the resulting bad cup gets attributed to the coffee rather than to the grind.

Storage advice is worth the space

Cool, dry, sealed, away from strong smells, and do not store ground coffee in the fridge door. One line prevents a large share of the complaints that arrive about a product that was fine when it left you.

Order labels after the container

Net quantity comes from the container and the fill, and the panel area available decides how much of the above fits. Both settle late in development and labels ordered early are labels reprinted.

Flavored products change the ingredient line

A flavored coffee or a tea blend with added oils, fruit or botanicals has a real ingredient list and possibly an allergen statement, where a plain one has almost nothing. Makers who start plain and add a flavored line often carry the old label structure across and find it no longer fits what the panel has to say.

References

21 CFR 101, Food Labeling, which carries the general requirements that apply here in the absence of a standard of identity: the statement of identity, net quantity, ingredient list and the name and place of business of the responsible party. law.cornell.edu

Written from federal regulation and from the published physics and chemistry of staling, not from a laboratory. There is no standard of identity for coffee or tea, so most of what governs a product here is the general requirement that labels be truthful and claims be substantiated. Anything here is a starting point for a conversation with your state department of agriculture, not a determination that you comply.