Founded in 2015, Saturnbird started off as a small coffee shop and grew to become a roastery. As the coffee-drinking culture in China was still lacking traction, the firm decided to create “something different” to raise its appeal.
Using freeze drying technology, the company developed its first-gen coffee pods, or “mini cups”, that were launched in 2018.
The product became the top-seller under the coffee category for Tmall’s 11.11 shopping event in 2019, and was ranked as the annual bestseller for Tmall’s coffee category in 2021. A new generation of coffee pods was released two years later. As of October 2023, over 600m cups of coffee have been sold.
Recognising the market potential, e-commerce retailer Dasher brought the coffee pods to Singapore and Malaysia in January this year.
“For many freeze-dried coffee brands not only in Singapore but around the world, only dark roast is available because it is a lot easier to retain the coffee flavour. Saturnbird's line-up includes six flavours numbered 1 to 6, which represent different levels of roast from light to dark. That is a key difference between us and other brands in the market.
“You don’t need a machine to enjoy our coffee; you just need water, milk or any liquid that you prefer. The coffee concentrate dissolves instantly, making it easy to brew and perfect for outdoors or on-the-go,” Dominic Chong, Ecommerce Brand Executive of Dasher, told FoodNavigator-Asia.
In Singapore, the products are mainly sold via Dasher’s website. The brand recently entered e-commerce platform FairPrice Online, with hopes of stocking at the supermarket chain’s retail stores in the near future.
“Initially, we had less than 1,000 product sales, but we understand that it takes time to gain momentum [in a new market]. In fact, we are seeing double-digit growth month on month, as well as an increase in returning customers and repeat purchases.
“The biggest challenge right now is that a lot of people feel that it is a bit expensive to pay about $1.50 per pod for instant coffee. However, you can’t compare our product with a regular 3-in-1 coffee because it is totally different. We want to redefine instant coffee — we are instant but we are able to match the quality of cafe-brewed coffee.”
As such, the firm is focused on educating consumers on the differences between regular instant coffee and Saturnbird’s products.
“Our immediate goal is to increase customer base and awareness. We’re battling competition with convenience and versatility. If you compare Saturnbird with specialty coffee in a cafe, which costs about $6 to $8 per cup, ours is much more affordable.
“Consumers nowadays, especially the younger generation such as students, start drinking coffee from as early as 16 years old. So, we want them to have something affordable that is of good quality, without having to spend six bucks on it a day, which can be pretty hefty.”
Winning over coffee snobs
As part of international trade organisation Specialty Coffee Association (SCA), Saturnbird uses premium coffee beans sourced globally that have a grade of 80 and above.
The SCA coffee beans classification system is an assessment conducted through green grading and cupping to present a score out of 100. This score determines the quality of coffee beans, with grades above 80 considered to be “very good”.
Every year, the firm would collaborate with a roastery from a different country to create a special edition product numbered as “0”.
For this year’s limited-edition offering, the firm worked with April, a renowned coffee roastery in Copenhagen.
“When we first started in Singapore, a lot of coffee enthusiasts told us that instant coffees can’t be good. They were shocked to learn that we collaborated with April because it is a very popular and well-respected roastery in the world.
“It was only then that they gave Saturnbird a try. After drinking it, they felt that it’s actually quite good and did not really taste like instant coffee. We hope to work with a roastery in Singapore next year,” Chong said.
Sustainability efforts
Saturnbird runs an initiative called Project Return in China, where customers can return their used mini cups to designated sites located in their cities in exchange for special rewards.
The cups, which are made of recycled plastics, are then recycled into lifestyle products.
The firm aims to launch the same project in Singapore in time to come.
“After a year of business, we’d want to see how many cups we have sold and are out on distribution so that we can organise Project Return on an annual basis here. We are working with a local recycling company to make other products from the used cups, and we already have a few prototypes.
“In addition, we are exploring the possibility of providing a prepaid return package for every purchase, so customers can just ship the used cups back to us. This is also one of the sustainability efforts that we are looking into.”