FAQs
Can we visit?
Yes! Our cafe and kitchen is now open Monday - Friday for breakfast and lunch :
Scenery
171 Union St
London, SE1 0LN
M-F 7:30 - 4:00pm
Product Information:
Can I choose the grind size for my coffee?
At present, we only offer whole-bean.
Are your coffees single-origin or blends?
We offer both blends (Facility, Colourful) and seasonal single origins.
How often do you rotate your coffee selections?
We aim to source and rotate the coffees seasonally, but are not opposed to buying coffees “out of season” if they are free of the flavours of age. We expect to rotate blend components every few months and single origins on a 4-8 week basis.
Do you roast to order?
While we don't roast individually for each order, we do roast our coffees in regular, optimised batches on set production days (typically Tuesday - Thursday) and maintain a stock of prepared bags. Some of this freshly roasted coffee is also held in airtight bulk storage, allowing us to bag it as needed to keep our inventory fresh and ensure prompt dispatch.
This system ensures we always have a fresh supply ready for prompt dispatch, often on the same day you order. Your coffee will have a roast date that could be anywhere from the day of dispatch up to three weeks prior. And that's perfectly fine – even preferable. Our coffees significantly improve in flavour after a necessary resting period (noted in each product description), so this timeframe means they're ready to start opening up, becoming easier to brew, and showing their true potential.
For more on this, please see the section "Resting and best before date" below.
What roast profiles do you offer?
We differentiate the offer into “Light, Medium and Heavy” as major categories that demonstrate stylistic intent. As roasters, we can only add flavours of roast to a coffee - our categories are defined by how much the influence of the roaster can be tasted.
In each product page, you will find a more detailed description of the roast style - which we tend to pick based on how we feel the green coffee will taste best.
Are your coffee products suitable for different brewing equipment (e.g. French press, espresso machine)?
We recommend Light roasts be used for filter - pourover, batch brew etc, or for those who are more adept at espresso and have the kit to deal with lighter roasts.
Medium/Heavy are profiled & optimised more with Espresso in mind
You can brew anything in a French press or AeroPress - immersion brews are more forgiving.
Sourcing & Ethics:
Who do you source your coffee beans from?
We’re working with trusted importers whom we have vetted through our time in the industry. We’ll share our import partners for each specific coffee in the product information. In time we hope to share insight into our green coffee costs - either Farmgate, FOB, or Ex-Works, with a full explanation of what each of those terms mean. However, we want to do so in a way that is commercially respectful to each tier of the value chain before us, and will only share these details when we are confident we are happy in the way it is handled.
What is your approach to sustainability?
We’re seeking to build in a circular economy thinking in our business, and will seek ways to reduce our packaging and energy consumption footprint. It’s super challenging to do properly, we'd rather not greenwash - rather than make any bold claims, best we can say is - we're working on it.
Are your packaging materials recyclable or eco-friendly?
Our shipping materials are recyclable, our bags are currently waste stream 7 (mixed material) recyclable plastics - suitable for recycling with other thin film plastics at large supermarkets or other suitable receptacles. While our labels are made from a recyclable polyester, the ink and adhesive aspect means they will reduce the quality of the final recycled output - for best results, remove the labels before recycling.
While our bags are currently made from virgin plastic, we are working on sourcing more sustainable materials.
Production & Shipping:
How long does it take to receive my coffee order?
We aim to ship within 24 hours of receiving an order Monday to Friday. Orders received later than 2pm Friday may not be shipped until the following Monday. Details of shipping services can be found at checkout.
Do you offer subscriptions?
We’re working on this and aim to launch our home subscription service very soon.
Do you offer International Shipping?
Yes! We ship worldwide via Royal Mail. If you have any further queries about international shipping, please refer to our shipping policy.
What is your return/refund policy?
Please refer to our Refund Policy via the quick link at the bottom of the page.
Brewing & Storage:
Can you provide brewing instructions or recommendations?
We provide simple filter instructions and espresso recipes on the back of each bag, with slightly more detailed recipes provided in the webshop listing for each coffee.
However these are not prescriptive - feel free to play around and experiment, and if you find a great recipe share it with us!
We've recently published the internal recipe we use when we're brewing our own filters if you find yourself curious to try.
What’s the one best thing I can do at home to get the best out of my coffee?
Use a water filter if you live in a hard-water area. We personally use BWT, Brita, and Zerowater jugs at home for ease of use. Coffee is 98% and 90% water for filter/espresso respectively, the quality of the water chemistry has one of the biggest impacts on the final brew.
The second best thing you can do is get a set of scales and weigh the amount of coffee/water you are using - we always provide suggested brew ratios for our coffees.
For the serious geeks out there:
For filter:
We recommend water with 2-3 dGH and 1-2 dKH, with a TDS of 50-75ppm.
For Espresso:
We recommend water with 4-6 dGH and 2-3 dKH, with a TDS of 100-120ppm
We recommend slightly higher calcium to magnesium to match the style of RO filtered London water, which is what we're quality controlling with.
Resting and best before date:
We provide "best rested for" guides on each product page, and a more general one on the back label of the bag.
If you can bear to wait, coffee stored in the bag (un-opened) for this period will improve immensely as it releases CO₂ created during the roasting process, and will be at peak flavour for several weeks following the "Best Rested for" indication.
You are of course welcome to open your coffee earlier and it should still be tasty!
Once opened, consume within 2 weeks
We suggest that all of our coffees are best enjoyed within 3 months from the day it was roasted and indicate the "roasted on" date & "best before" date on the rear of the bag.
Coffees stored for the longer than the "best before" date will still be absolutely drinkable and remain food safe, however the vibrant elements that made them special will be slowly reducing in volume, and more generic roasted coffee flavours will be the dominant notes.
How should I store coffee to maintain freshness?
Push the air out, reseal with the zip, keep in a cool dark place like a cupboard. Try and use within 2-3 weeks of opening.
There are guides on best practices for freezing coffee online if you chose to store for a longer period.
Can I purchase coffee accessories or brewing equipment from your webshop?
We’re looking forward to launching our first kit partnerships soon - watch this space.
Other bits:
Do you offer wholesale?
Yes! Contact sales@scenery.coffee and we’ll be in touch
Who does your illustrations?
We're working with Lucas Garcia for our illustrations, who we highly recommend - go check out his work!
I have a question which isn’t covered here/I want to get in touch with you
Feel free to get in touch with us via the contact us page or drop us a line on @scenerycoffeeroasters on instagram