Roasting Plant Coffee

We worked with New York coffee shop Roasting Plant to evolve the brand and make it relevant for the UK market, refreshing its full identity from its logo to storytelling, packaging, uniforms and interior design.

Established in Manhattan, Roasting Plant was invented by an industrial engineer and coffee lover who believed there was a better, fresher way to brew coffee. Each Roasting Plant location features a unique Javabot™ system which roasts micro-batches of coffee on site. This brings the entire coffee preparation process under one roof, offering a new standard of freshness. Customers choose their own personalised mix of beans – up to four varieties in a single cup – and the Javabot grinds and brews them immediately on demand. The result is the perfect blend of coffee, customisation, convenience and speed – every time.

The design challenge was to humanise the brand experience, marrying Roasting Plant’s ingenius technology with its natural, earthy side. The new concept unifies the two aspects of the brand, celebrating its products and people – the customers, growers, engineers and coffee masters – as much as the Javabot.

The new brand identity is fresh, contemporary and playful. Quirky illustrations are a core part of the design language, featured across packaging and as a mural in-store. Bringing people to the fore, the illustrations subtly underline that there is a team of highly-experienced passionate coffee ‘nerds’ behind the brand. Challenging misconceptions that traditional baristas may be better than the technology, the illustrations educate customers on the full making process from coffee plant to Roasting Plant. Fun characters personify different flavour profiles, including Aromatic and Complex, Bold and Strong, or Sweet and Delicate. The illustration can be tweaked to localise the design for different locations. In London, the drawing of the Javabot weaves around the characters to resemble an eccentric tube map.

The welcoming interior design embraces the state-of-the-art technology whilst bringing in warmth and texture via a natural material palette of oak, tan leather and ‘fossil’ porcelain floor tiles. Dark cork wall panels allude to coffee beans while also offering sound absorption.

Customers can see and smell the coffee as it is roasted and ground on site, with the Javabot™’s Willy Wonka-style pipes blasting the beans across the ceiling. The layout is designed so that customers queue below the pipes, immersing them in the experience. We worked closely with Roasting Plant’s engineers to refine the Javabot interface, making it feel more natural and organic.

To remove barriers between customers and staff we integrated seating into the bar counter, softening it with rounded corners that make it easier for staff to move around and interact. To maximise storage space and remind customers of the raw materials and process, coffee sacks are on display instead of back of house, and the green bean loader for the Javabot is on view on the café floor.

The memorable concept entertains, educates and encourages sharing—whether it’s Roasting Plant’s coffee master recommending personalised blends, or customers sharing photos online.