So, we started a coffee business...

By Katy Blay

We knew starting a coffee business would involve a lot of learning, but I had not quite appreciated how many different roles Steve and I would end up taking on. Somewhere between packing orders and updating the website, we have also become product photographers and slightly reluctant social media personalities.

Becoming social media influencers, apparently

We have been filming lots of content over the past few weeks, which has been equal parts enjoyable and slightly ridiculous.

Neither of us expected to spend quite so much time filming coffee pours or adjusting camera angles while trying to keep children’s toys out of shot. Steve has taken to being in front of the camera surprisingly well, while I remain much happier behind it telling him what to do.

It is all still a work in progress, but we are starting to find our feet. We want Lux Prima to feel like us, rather than a polished coffee brand pretending everything runs perfectly behind the scenes.

The coffee matters enormously to us, but we also want people to feel comfortable asking questions or admitting they have no idea which grind size they need. Good coffee should not feel like a private club.

A few packaging lessons

The first few weeks have also been useful for seeing how everything works once an order actually leaves us and arrives with someone else.

There have been a few teething problems with the packaging, along with small details that made perfect sense to us until we saw them from a customer’s point of view. Nothing dramatic, thankfully, but enough to remind us that launching is really just the beginning.

We have been making tweaks as we go and noting down anything that could be clearer. It turns out there is a surprising amount to think about before someone has even opened the bag.

What we are working on next

One thing that has come up repeatedly is equipment. We recommend buying whole beans because they stay fresher for longer, but we also know that this is not especially helpful if you do not own a grinder. Not everyone wants a huge machine taking up half the kitchen either.

That is why we are planning to add a small product shop to the website, including compact coffee grinders that are simple to use and easy to store. The idea is not to fill the site with endless gadgets, we would rather offer a small number of things that make buying and brewing our coffee easier.

We are currently looking at what else might be genuinely helpful, so this part will grow gradually rather than appearing overnight with fifty products nobody asked for.

Building the business around real life

Steve and I are building Lux Prima alongside our full-time jobs, with him working in engineering and me in PR. For some unknown reason, we also chose one of the busiest professional periods of the year for both of us, while also juggling the school summer holidays. It is becoming increasingly clear that we enjoy making life difficult for ourselves.

Most of the work happens later in the evening, once we have finished the day jobs and got our two boys tucked up in bed. That is usually when we start packing orders, testing packaging or figuring out how another new machine works without accidentally breaking it.

There are also captions to write for all the social content we have filmed, followed by the slightly less glamorous job of scheduling everything and checking that it has actually gone live when it is supposed to. Some evenings disappear into website updates, while others are spent trying to work out why a label printer has suddenly decided it no longer wants to cooperate.

The late nights can be tiring after a full day at work and a busy evening with two little boys, but there is also something really satisfying about seeing orders ready to go by the time we finally switch off. We are learning as we go, often with coffee in hand, and it has been lovely building something together that feels completely our own.

Hearing from our first customers

One of the loveliest parts of the past few weeks has been hearing what people think once they have tried the coffee at home.

A few of our first customers have told us that the beans have made a noticeable difference to what they were drinking before, particularly in how much smoother the coffee tastes. That has been incredibly reassuring to hear because it is exactly what we hoped people would notice.

Another customer admitted they had not really known speciality coffee beans were a thing until trying Lux Prima, and has since said they will not be going back to supermarket blends. No pressure on us to maintain that standard, then!

Those early messages have meant a lot. When you are spending late evenings packing orders or questioning whether anyone really needs to see another slow-motion coffee pour, hearing that someone has genuinely enjoyed what you have made gives the whole thing a lift.

Tell us what you really think

The lovely feedback we have received so far has been hugely encouraging, and we would love to keep that conversation going as Lux Prima grows.

If you have already ordered, let us know what you enjoyed most and how you found the experience from choosing your beans to making your first cup. If anything was not quite as expected, we would really appreciate hearing that too, as every bit of feedback helps us learn and improve as Lux Prima grows.

We would also love to hear from anyone who has been following Lux Prima but has not ordered yet. Is there anything you would like to see from us, or a question we could help answer?

You can send us a DM on Instagram or email hello@lux-prima.co.uk.

You can also leave us a review on Trustpilot - https://uk.trustpilot.com/review/lux-prima.co.uk