Behind the Scenes: How We Design Our Secret Label Coffee Program – myCuppa

🎨 Behind the Scenes: How We Design Our Secret Label Monthly Coffee Program

Since its introduction in July 2018, our monthly Secret Label coffee program has grown to be a significant and critical part of our operation. Such is the high demand that this coffee is roasted daily, and customers often reach out asking, "Where is this month's Secret Label, I can't find it?"

We love that this program creates memorable moments. Here, we share insights into how we approach the design and sourcing of each Secret Label offering.

The Core Challenge: Balancing Distinctiveness with Universal Appeal

It is incredibly difficult to create a coffee that is both distinctive and universally enjoyable, primarily because everything in coffee has been done before. A basic rule of thumb dictates a key design constraint:

When you push too far in one direction trying to make a coffee unique, you risk limiting or narrowing your target audience considerably.

As an example, high-scoring, expensive naturally processed coffees with abundant fruity notes often receive mixed feedback. For customers accustomed to smooth, rich coffee, being suddenly confronted with high levels of grapefruit, jasmine, or tropical pineapple can be a shock to the palate, especially when consumed with milk.

Mastering the Palate: The Fruit vs. Chocolate Divide

While fruit notes in coffee are desirable and often correlate with higher cost and quality, they are highly polarizing to the average drinker.

We’ve seen firsthand that if the majority of customers silently crave rich, smooth chocolate notes in their brew, questioning the merit of paying high premiums for fruity lots that only 10% of customers enjoy is essential for commercial viability.

The Secret Label Flavor Constraint

The enduring theme of Secret Label is to always carry some degree of chocolate, toffee, or caramel into the cup—this is the core expectation. Without at least one of these core attributes, there is a clear and present risk of alienating our customers and causing the program to fail.

We only introduce extra fruit occasionally to carefully prod the boundaries of what is accepted or tolerated by our audience.

The Operational Reality: Designing a Blend with Limited Data

Designing the Secret Label is complex. We are often scouting lots and planning the blends for June, July, and August months ahead, all while managing ongoing shortages of specific origins.

Furthermore, we operate with surprisingly limited consumer data:

Low Feedback Rate: Despite selling thousands of packs each month, feedback comes from barely a handful of customers.
Volume Confusion: Sales volume alone is insufficient for radical decision-making, as buying habits (running out, being happy with last month’s quality) don't intelligently inform us of this month's success or failure.

This lack of quantifiable data means our program relies heavily on experienced screening criteria applied to countless in/out coffee lots, keeping an open mind about what might work well in a blend later.

The Art and Science of Coffee Blending

Early in the Secret Label program, we used standalone single origins that were spectacular. However, we quickly realized that single origins were more divisive than blends. For this reason, Secret Label has been exclusively blends for many years—a decision that prioritizes playing to our audience.

The Blending Challenge

While marketers promote the idea that blending takes the "best of" each ingredient to create synergy, the reality is far more difficult. Blending coffee is complex. It often results in numerous misses before a hit, and even then, chemical reactions (like acids from different coffees canceling each other out) can lead to a negative outcome.

Rarely does a blend fulfill the original designer's expectations. When it does—like a past favorite that was "balanced to perfection"—it's magic, and it’s why we continue to chase that perfect, consistent blend.