Covid-19 Customer Information Page

Dear Valued Customers,

We would like to reassure you that we will remain open as normal with restricted hours; From Monday to Friday from 10am to 5pm. Closed on Sunday.

The above opening hours are subject to change and we suggest you check back on your planned travel day before making your journey to ensure hours have not altered.

Our mail order service continues to operate as normal, however due to exceptional demand, orders are taking longer to dispatch. We ask you allow 5 to 7 working days for your order to be processed.

We are experiencing an exceptionally high and unprecedented number of orders, this might bring some delays to the usual service you might be used to due to the following:

We are operating at 50% capacity due to the limited space in the Store in which we can only operate from. This means that there are only 3 people preparing all orders.
Each order is individually weighed and freshly ground to order, nothing is pre-packed.
We are committed to ensuring we can provide you with exceptional customer service and care when processing your orders.

Please may we ask that you refrain from calling us to place an order unless you are not able to do so online. This will keep our lines free for our elderly customers who don't have internet access.

A HUGE THANK YOU

We wanted to thank each and every one of you for your invaluable support over these difficult times. The decision to close back in March was extremely hard for us but your kind messages of support via email and on our social media platforms made it less stressful and we appreciate the understanding that you have showed us. It will never be forgotten! We do believe that we have the best customers in the world!!! You have all made this scary and uncertain time much more bearable, we can’t thank you enough!

We also want to thank our suppliers who are still working hard to get our coffee and tea to us, our roasters who have had to deal with our huge order increase, the delivery men and women who always deliver with a smile no matter what and our faithful postman who collects your orders on a daily basis without complaining about the vast amount of postal sacks we have ready for him!

And of course the biggest thank you goes to our Healthcare and Key workers who have put their own lives on the front line to help and protect us all. YOU ARE ALL HEROES!

HOW WE ARE KEEPING YOU SAFE

Since the lockdown was announced, we worked hard to get back up and running as soon as we could but we only were able to do so once we were confident that we could keep our valued customers as well as our amazing staff safe. We complied with H&S regulations and completed all of the relevant risk assessments for the workplace and made changes to the way we operate and work as a team.

If you have ever visited our Store, you will know that it is very small and narrow, only 6 to 7 people max can work behind the counters normally. With the new social distancing requirements, having that amount of staff on the shop floor would be unsafe, this is why we have decided to rotate our staff and allow 50% back to work normally and the other 50% will be Furloughed. After some time, they will switch which will allow them all to come back to work and regain some sort of normality in their day to day life.

To keep our valued customers safe, we are only allowing 2 people in the Store at the time. Hand sanitiser is provided upon entry and markings on the floor will aid you in maintaining a safe distance from other visitors and staff.

As of Friday 24th July, face coverings are now mandatory when visiting shops. Please may we ask, for your safety and the safety of our staff, that you do wear a face covering for the entire visit at our store.

We encourage contactless payments and there is now no minimum spend requirement for card transactions.

All staff have had Covid-19 related H&S training and now wear masks throughout their entire shift. Their workstations and tools are santised frequently throughout the day and thoroughly at the end of their shift. At their workstation they each have access to cleaning equipment as well as hand sanitiser, which they have been trained to use regularly as well as wash their hands frequently.

All shop collections will be prepaid to avoid exchange of money.

We will continuously review the guidance given to us from the government and WHO and update any procedures as soon as they are put into place.

Best wishes from,

Algerian Coffee Stores Team.

ADDITIONAL INFO

International Shipments are temporarily suspended until further notice.
Shop Collections are now bookable online and take around 3 to 5 working days to process. You will be emailed to arrange a time.
Our Soho Store opening hours are from Monday to Saturday from 10am to 5pm. Closed on Sunday.
Our office hours are from Monday to Friday from 9am to 5pm.

COVID-19 STATEMENT FROM OUR TEA SUPPLIER

Following concerns and queries from several clients we would like to share the following statement in respect to coronavirus and our tea supply.

All Chinese tea that is in our facility was grown and made before June 2019 and stored in high vacuum.
Chinese tea (black, green, oolong) is dried at temperatures above 200 degrees F (95 degrees C) for minimally 15 minutes.
Chinese white tea is sun dried and may undergo up to 5 minutes of mechanical drying at the above noted temperature.
After drying, the transit time from the estates to their facility is minimally 60 days.
Reports from the W.H.O. and other authorities indicate that the incubation period is up to 14 days in a live host.
There have been no reports that Covid-19 is able to survive in high temperatures or in products that are dried to below 4-5% moisture.
The recommended steeping temperature of tea in water is greater than 190 degrees F (90 deg C) for 5 minutes. (We also recommend that you bring the water to a boil and allow it to cool to the desired steeping temperature).