The Grounds opened The Grounds of Alexandria in 2012, turning a former pie factory and its concrete car park into an urban oasis of gardens, coffee and food. The original café was inspired by founder and director Ramzey Choker’s Sunday breakfasts with his family. Today it is a hospitality and events organisation, and the Alexandria precinct remains its heart: The Grounds Cafe, The Potting Shed restaurant, The Garden with its takeaway kiosks and animal pen, laneways redecorated to a new theme every few months, an in-house bakery and patisserie, and event spaces. Personal photography is welcome; commercial shoots need permission in advance.

Roasting began at the back of the Alexandria café. When its first café opened it decided the safest hands were its own, and The Grounds Roastery was founded to roast to its own standards. It moved to a warehouse in St Peters as the wholesale side grew, then in 2024 to The Grounds Coffee Factory in the Locomotive Workshop at South Eveleigh, a working roastery, cafeteria and training facility where the roasting is on view. The Factory runs a factory tour, a manual brewing workshop, a coffee tasting experience, latte art classes and a roaming cart that brews single-origin pour-overs at the table. The Grounds of the City, in The Galeries in the CBD, is the third public venue, with a 1920s-inspired room and a menu that runs from breakfast to dinner.

The coffee is split into blends and single origins. Beanstalker, the signature espresso blend, dates from 2012; Huntley Street is named after the Alexandria street where the company began; Loco Street, the newest, after the Factory’s address. Single origins are labelled Classic, Experimental, Rare or Super Rare, each with a producer profile. The current retail range is listed below with the roaster’s own tasting notes.

Coffee on the shelf

Photograph: The Grounds