German ink manufacturer Siegwerk is continuing its industrial trials with an ink made from coffee grounds. Following a successful initial application on paper bags this summer, this water-based formulation was tested this month on a corrugated cardboard production line at the Finnish packaging manufacturer Adara Pakkaus. According to Adara Pakkaus, the trial was successful and produced satisfactory print quality under industrial conditions.
The development of this ink is based on a Finnish research project that began in 2025, involving Tampere University of Applied Sciences, the dye manufacturer Natural Indigo Finland, the coffee roaster Meira, and the ink manufacturer Siegwerk.
The manufacturing process for this ink involves converting byproducts from the coffee roasting process into dyes, which Siegwerk then incorporates into an aqueous formulation for printing on packaging.
A second industrial trial using a different type of packaging
Last August, Siegwerk had already tested its coffee-based ink on an industrial scale at the German packaging manufacturer Hornung Verpackungen. At that time, cross-bottom paper bags were printed using the Coffee-Special ink.
The new test, conducted in November on corrugated cardboard, confirms that this ink can be used on another type of packaging in industrial production. However, its development required overcoming several technical challenges to achieve a satisfactory print result. "The most challenging part of this project was achieving sufficient intensity and contrast with the coffee-based dye." , says Satu Autio, an ink expert at Adara Pakkaus, in a LinkedIn post.
Several European suppliers are working on inks made from coffee
Siegwerk isn't the only company exploring the use of coffee grounds in printing inks. In France, Inkee, a young manufacturer of bio-based inks, is developing black inks made from coffee grounds, intended primarily for flexography and inkjet printing. Unlike the process developed with Siegwerk, which relies on the extraction of dyes, the French technology directly incorporates ground coffee grounds into its inks.
In the Netherlands, Caffe Inc, which transforms coffee waste into industrial raw materials, is also developing pigments extracted from coffee grounds. Under the Caffe Ink brand, Caffe Inc is working on water-based inks for flexography and rotogravure printing on paper, plastic, and textiles. In July 2025, the manufacturer reported that it had reached the large-scale pilot stage for dye extraction. Samples are now available to manufacturers.
In Belgium, Grounds Up, a company that recycles coffee grounds, is developing a brown pigment intended primarily for use in offset, screen printing','www.printindustry.news/search/serigraphy');" class="lien-auto-article" href="https://www.printindustry.news/search/serigraphy">screen printing, and packaging inks. It is also researching the conversion of coffee grounds through pyrolysis to produce a black pigment that could replace carbon black.
These projects are based on different processes and have not all reached the same level of maturity. After conducting tests on two types of packaging, Siegwerk now has results from industrial-scale trials.
