Specialty coffee and tea retail is one of the most nuanced segments of food ecommerce. Products require detailed origin data (country, region, farm, processing method), grind options that can't be easily handled with standard variants, and subscription models that are central to the business rather than an add-on. WooCommerce specialty food stores typically used a mix of custom fields for coffee data and WooCommerce Subscriptions for recurring boxes. Shopify handles this well — with metafields for coffee data and Recharge for subscriptions — but requires careful configuration.

Coffee and tea product types

Single origin whole bean / ground coffee: Sold by weight (250g, 1kg), multiple grind options — the core product for specialty roasters
Espresso blends: Multi-origin blends optimised for espresso — fixed recipe, consistent across bags
Decaf: Decaffeinated coffee — note decaf process (Swiss Water, CO2, Methylene Chloride — CO2 preferred for specialty)
Green coffee: Unroasted beans for home roasters — different product requirements
Loose leaf tea: Sold by weight, multiple grades and origins
Tea bags: Convenience format — often same tea as loose leaf in different packs
Tea blends: Flavoured and blended teas — ingredient lists required
Coffee equipment: Grinders, pour-over sets, espresso machines — physical retail products
Coffee subscriptions: Monthly or weekly fresh-roasted coffee delivery — recurring revenue core
Specialty food: Artisan chocolate, hot sauce, honey, preserves — similar product data needs

Coffee product metafields

Origin and traceability

product.metafields.coffee.country_of_origin (single_line_text) — "Ethiopia", "Colombia", "Kenya"
product.metafields.coffee.region (single_line_text) — "Yirgacheffe", "Huila", "Nyeri"
product.metafields.coffee.farm_or_cooperative (single_line_text) — specific farm or cooperative name
product.metafields.coffee.altitude_masl (single_line_text) — "1,800–2,200 masl" — altitude affects cup profile
product.metafields.coffee.variety (list.single_line_text) — "Heirloom", "Bourbon", "Typica", "Gesha"
product.metafields.coffee.processing_method (single_line_text) — "Natural", "Washed", "Honey", "Anaerobic"
product.metafields.coffee.harvest_year (number_integer) — crop year

Roast and freshness

product.metafields.coffee.roast_level (single_line_text) — "Light", "Medium-Light", "Medium", "Dark"
product.metafields.coffee.roast_date_days_fresh (number_integer) — how many days post-roast for optimal brewing (e.g., 7–21 days for espresso, 3–14 for filter)
product.metafields.coffee.best_before_from_roast_days (number_integer) — shelf life from roast date
Note: actual roast date is batch-specific and changes weekly/fortnightly — print on bag, not in Shopify product data.

Flavour and cup profile

product.metafields.coffee.flavour_notes (list.single_line_text) — "Raspberry", "Dark Chocolate", "Orange Blossom"
product.metafields.coffee.acidity (single_line_text) — "Bright", "Balanced", "Low"
product.metafields.coffee.body (single_line_text) — "Light", "Medium", "Full"
product.metafields.coffee.sweetness (single_line_text) — "High", "Medium", "Low"
product.metafields.coffee.brew_methods (list.single_line_text) — "Espresso", "Pour Over", "AeroPress", "Cold Brew" — recommended brew methods

Grind options and bag size variants

Coffee products need two variant dimensions: bag size (weight) and grind type. With Shopify's 3-option limit, this works perfectly:

Option 1: "Size" — "250g" / "500g" / "1kg"
Option 2: "Grind" — "Whole Bean" / "Filter (Coarse)" / "Cafetiere (Medium-Coarse)" / "Pour Over (Medium)" / "Espresso (Fine)" / "Moka Pot (Fine-Medium)"
Pricing: 250g whole bean at £X. 500g at £(X × 1.8). 1kg at £(X × 3.2). Grind options typically same price as whole bean (grinding is included in the service).
Inventory: track inventory per bag size, not per grind — you have X kg of beans and grind to order. In Shopify, manage inventory at the size variant level only, not the grind variant.
WooCommerce migration: WooCommerce coffee stores often used product add-ons (WooCommerce Product Add-Ons plugin) for grind selection rather than variants. Migrate add-ons to proper variant options in Shopify.

Tea product metafields

product.metafields.tea.tea_type (single_line_text) — "Green", "Black", "Oolong", "White", "Pu-erh", "Herbal"
product.metafields.tea.country_of_origin (single_line_text) — "Darjeeling, India", "Fujian, China", "Uji, Japan"
product.metafields.tea.grade (single_line_text) — "SFTGFOP1", "Gyokuro", "First Flush" — tea grading systems
product.metafields.tea.brewing_temperature_c (number_integer) — optimal brewing temperature in Celsius
product.metafields.tea.steeping_time_seconds (number_integer) — recommended steeping time
product.metafields.tea.caffeine_level (single_line_text) — "High", "Medium", "Low", "Caffeine-free"
product.metafields.tea.infusions (number_integer) — number of times the tea can be re-steeped (important for oolong and pu-erh)

Coffee subscriptions

Subscription coffee boxes are a high-LTV product — customers who subscribe typically stay for 6–12 months and spend 3–4x more than one-time purchasers:

ReCharge: set up subscription coffee variants alongside one-time purchase variants. "Subscribe and save 10%" pricing is standard for specialty coffee.
Billing frequencies: weekly (for heavy espresso drinkers), fortnightly (most common), monthly
Coffee rotation: many specialty roasters rotate the coffee in each subscription delivery. ReCharge supports this via product swap in subscription orders.
Grind preference in subscription: capture grind preference at subscription sign-up (via Recharge checkout or notes). ReCharge subscription notes carry through to each recurring order.
Pause for holidays: essential for coffee subscriptions. Subscribers going on holiday need to pause 1–2 deliveries without cancelling. ReCharge customer portal enables self-service pause.
Discovery box model: new subscriber receives "Taster Box" (3 x 60g of different origins) — then subscribes to their favourite. Consider this as a lead product for subscription conversion.

Wholesale for cafes and restaurants

Many specialty roasters sell wholesale (5kg+ bags, commercial pricing) alongside retail:

Shopify B2B (Plus only): for dedicated wholesale storefront. High-volume roasters may need this.
Basic Shopify wholesale: use customer tags + price lists. Wholesale customers tagged "wholesale" see wholesale prices via Liquid theme logic or a wholesale app.
Wholesale product variants: add 5kg and 10kg bag variants to coffee products for wholesale. Standard retail products show 250g/500g/1kg; wholesale shows 1kg/5kg/10kg.
Minimum order: enforce wholesale minimum order (e.g., £100 minimum) via a wholesale app or custom checkout validation.
Coffee equipment for wholesale: catering-grade grinders and equipment sold to cafes — consider separate products or a separate wholesale collection.

Food compliance labelling

UK Food Information Regulations: coffee and tea products sold as prepacked foods require: product name, ingredients (for blends), allergen information, weight, country of origin, storage conditions, best before date, business name/address.
Allergens: coffee is not a common allergen, but flavoured coffees and tea blends may contain nuts, dairy, gluten — display prominently. Use metafields: product.metafields.food.contains_allergens.
Organic certification: if certified organic, display certification body (Soil Association, etc.) on product pages and packaging. Add a certification metafield.
Fair Trade / Rainforest Alliance: display certifications on product pages — important marketing signals in specialty coffee.

Coffee and tea migration checklist

Create coffee metafield namespace: country_of_origin, region, farm, altitude, variety, processing_method, harvest_year, roast_level, flavour_notes, brew_methods
Create tea metafield namespace: tea_type, country_of_origin, grade, brewing_temperature_c, steeping_time_seconds, caffeine_level, infusions
Migrate WooCommerce custom fields / ACF data to Shopify metafields
Rebuild coffee grind options as product variants (not WooCommerce product add-ons)
Set up bag size × grind variant matrix for each coffee product
Install ReCharge for coffee subscriptions — configure weekly/fortnightly/monthly frequencies
Enable subscriber grind preference capture at subscription sign-up
Set up wholesale customer tag pricing for cafe/restaurant accounts
Add food compliance information per UK regulations to product descriptions
Create "Coffee Subscriptions", "Single Origins", "Espresso Blends" collections
Test: subscribe to coffee box → change grind preference via customer portal → next order processes with new grind
Test: wholesale customer sees wholesale prices at checkout

The most common coffee migration error is treating grind options as product add-ons in WooCommerce and then migrating them as nothing — leaving Shopify products as "whole bean only" with no grind selection. This happens because WooCommerce Product Add-Ons don't map to any standard WooCommerce field that migration tools pick up. Before migrating, manually audit every coffee product and note its grind options, then recreate these as proper Shopify variants. A coffee product without grind selection is unusable for the majority of customers who don't have a grinder — they'll simply abandon the product page and buy from a competitor who makes ordering easier.

Migrating a coffee, tea & specialty food store from WooCommerce to Shopify (2026)