AromaCraft Coffee
A specialty coffee roaster selling beans and cafe product online, where the whole proposition is a flavour the buyer cannot experience before paying for it.
The problem
Specialty coffee has an onboarding problem. The language that signals quality to enthusiasts — origin, process, tasting notes — is meaningless to a first-time buyer, who simply wants to know which bag to choose and abandons the cart when nothing helps them decide.
Meanwhile returning customers want the opposite: no explanation, straight to reordering the thing they already like. One store had to stop the two behaviours getting in each other’s way.
Washed Ethiopian, notes of bergamot.
Specialist language meant nothing to newcomers
Nothing helped a first-timer choose
Regulars had to wade through explanation
The approach
Give first-timers a route in. Guided selection by taste rather than by origin, with the specialist detail present but not gatekeeping the purchase.
And give regulars the shortest possible path to reorder. Product photography carried the warmth of the cafe throughout, so the store felt like the brand rather than a generic shop template.
Find a coffee by how you like it to taste.
Guided selection by taste
Specialist detail present, not gatekeeping
The shortest path to reorder
What we built
Six decisions that shaped the build, each made for a reason rather than an aesthetic.
Guided selection for first-timers and a fast reorder path for regulars, without either behaviour obstructing the other.
Selection framed around flavour a buyer can imagine rather than origin and process language only enthusiasts parse.
Origin, process and tasting notes all present for the people who want them, positioned so they never block a simple purchase.
Product imagery carrying the warmth of the physical space, so the store reads as the brand rather than a shop template.
Recurring orders set up properly, because in coffee the second purchase is where the business actually lives.
Seasonal roasts and single origins published by the team as they land, without waiting on a developer.
What changed afterwards
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