In a matter of days, a Melbourne roaster went from dismissing an industrial printer as “too expensive” to realising how it could transform his business.
At first glance, Stephen Coster thought he couldn’t afford it.
From a distance on the show floor at Melbourne International Coffee Expo (MICE) in March 2026, the Trimatt ColourStar AQ looked like a serious investment – the kind he thought would be difficult for his small Melbourne roasting business, Chosen Bean, to recoup.
But the idea lingered. Later that evening, while reading BeanScene, Stephen began to connect what he’d seen on the show floor with the case studies he’d been following in the magazine.
What initially felt out of reach eventually felt like a chance to take control of his branded packaging once and for all. There was also a clear opportunity to create a new revenue stream for a business that currently roasts for six wholesale partners and Chosen Bean’s own café in Ferntree Gully.
“One of the biggest challenges as a small roaster has always been packaging,” he says.
“I try to use Australian-made wherever possible, which often means you’re paying more. But these days, it’s also harder to even source locally made options.”
Before investing in a ColourStar AQ, he was locked into minimum orders of 25,000-30,000 stickers that would be placed on plain coffee bags by hand. Then he moved to short-run printed bags, with minimum orders of 500 units at a time.
“But when you’re paying around 95 cents a bag that can ads up quickly, plus you’re dealing with reorder delays and lead times. Sometimes it’d be three to four weeks, depending on how busy the supplier was,” he says.
Before long, Stephen was typing up an email to Matt Johnson, who founded Trimatt Systems in 2005 in Melbourne, and has grown it to become a leader in advanced automation and print solutions for numerous industries.
In coffee, it’s the company’s ColourStar AQ making the biggest inroads. It’s described as an all-in-one, customisable, industrial digital colour printing solution making in-house package printing “fast, economic, and profitable” for businesses like Chosen Bean.
“When we got into the numbers, I worked out that based on my current printing costs the machine could support itself,” Stephen says.
“Matt talked about ink costs per page [of bag] being around three-and-a-half to four cents. I went away, crunched my numbers… but it’s not only about break-even – it’s also about time savings and flexibility we will create by being able to print on demand.”
By adopting the ColourStar AQ, Stephen can source his own plain paper bags at competitive rates and print on them as needed. Designs can easily be adapted via PDF, meaning he can immediately co-brand with the cafés he roasts for, or create limited time promotions without being locked into minimum order quantities.
“On the roasting side, it gives me freedom with private labelling. For the website, I can adapt and change what I put on the bag as I please. Even in-store, we stamp a lot of things just to get the brand out there, but now I can run all of that through the machine,” he says.
“Even the smaller 250-gram bags, which I’ve been sticking labels on, I can now print on the ColourStar AQ. We’re going to be handling them in a much more efficient way, with a better final outcome.”
He will also begin upgrading the look and feel of his secondary packaging, with the ColourStar AQ capable of printing on boxes.
“At the moment we reuse cartons [without branding], but now I’ll be investing in plain boxes to present things more professionally for delivery,” Stephen says.
“I was talking to a mate who is a similar-sized roaster to me. He’s seen another business grow just by improving the finish of their packaging, so it makes a difference.”
Stephen knows many roasters facing similar packaging challenges, while navigating higher green bean costs. He’s now in discussions to conduct printing on their behalf, creating a win-win scenario that helps fellow roasters claw back some margin on their coffee sales.
“So, there’s potential to generate additional income for my business… and at that point, it became pretty clear that I’ve got to invest in this system,” he says.
BeanScene was there for the Chosen Bean installation of the ColourStar AQ. Stephen’s initial impressions of the machine only solidified his confidence in the investment.
“I expected a high quality machine when I first saw it, due to the fact that Australian-made equipment usually is,” he says.
“But seeing it up close, I was impressed. I really like the quality of the finish, the precision of it, the fact it’s a complete unit. But there’s also the flexibility in terms of how it moves across to print any sort of media – just as long as it’s paper-based.”
Interest from ‘well-known names’
Matt, Founder of Trimatt, says Chosen Bean is the latest in a wave of coffee roasters increasingly recognising the value of his Trimatt ColourStar AQ printer.
That interest has accelerated in the first quarter of 2026 as operators seek to bring packaging production in-house and cut costs, particularly with the economics of small-batch production.
Matt says the company’s presence at MICE26 has helped reset conversations with both existing and prospective customers.
“Stephen’s story is a familiar one we see among Australian roasters who are frustrated with the cost of buying packaging externally, the delays, and the need to constantly check quality when it arrives. It just doesn’t sit right with a lot of people,” he says.
“When Trimatt introduced itself to the coffee market in 2023, most people didn’t really understand what we did. They thought we were just a provider of printed bags.
“By staying in front of the market through trade media and direct B2B engagement, people are starting to understand the value better. We’ve now got interest from at least three more roasters as well – some of them well-known names.”
Matt says some small roasters often think they can’t afford to invest in the ColourStar AQ until they run the numbers.
“We see cases of roasters paying $1.70 per bag with pre-printed artwork. Now, they’re purchasing bags for around 44 cents and adding roughly five cents of ink. The other advantage is they can conduct this on demand, in-house, in the volumes they actually need,” he says.
The ColourStar AQ has applications regardless of the size of the operation, Matt says. The system is in use with large operators like Espressology, a contract roaster in New South Wales, and Jasper Coffee in Melbourne, through to smaller roasters like Chosen Bean and Ranges Coffee in Victoria.
Interest is high among businesses moving toward sustainability using paper-based coffee bags.
“We’re also seeing interest from businesses looking at white labelling, especially those supplying smaller roasters who don’t have production capacity,” Matt says.
“There are also larger businesses that don’t necessarily want to print directly on bags but want flexibility for secondary packaging – boxes, café materials, paper bags, napkins, coasters, menus, and so on.”
As Stephen puts his new ColourStar AQ to work at Chosen Bean, he’s looking forward to seeing the returns compound over time.
But in the short-term, there’s a mixture of relief and excitement as he removes bottlenecks, reduces costs, and opens new avenues for growth.
“I’m just excited to begin using it,” he says. “The flexibility to print on demand across different materials is going to open up a lot of possibilities for our business.”
For more information, visit trimatt.com.au
This article appears in the June 2026 edition of BeanScene. Subscribe HERE.
