Edinburgh coffee: a city of small roasters

Edinburgh’s coffee has a particular habit: the roasters open cafés in the neighbourhoods where people live, not where the tour buses stop. Stockbridge, Bruntsfield, Marchmont, Newington and Leith each have a roastery café of their own, and the walk from the New Town down to the Shore takes in half of this list. The Old Town has good coffee too, but it tends to be served by multi-roaster shops that buy from the roasters below. The list is not ranked.

Cairngorm Coffee, West End and Bruntsfield

Robi started Cairngorm around a kitchen table in Newtonmore in 2014, and the company still says its purpose is to champion Scottish coffee and the people behind it. The West End café opened in 2016 on the curved granite corner of a Georgian building, with four espressos on rotation daily beside a changing batch brew and toasties. A second café on Bruntsfield Links is the newest, with upstairs seating and brewing kit for sale. Roasting is data-driven and happens near Portobello; visits are by appointment only.

Artisan Roast, four cafés

Artisan Roast has roasted specialty coffee since 2007 and calls itself Edinburgh’s much-loved and trusted independent roastery. The original café, on the edge of the New Town, has the Janszoon blend and a seasonal single origin on espresso and batch brew or V60 at the brew bar. A second café, on the way down to Leith, occupies a former funeral director’s office and runs comedy nights and workshops beside a vegetarian kitchen. Bruntsfield began as a pop-up during the 2011 Fringe and stayed; Stockbridge has its own kitchen and welcomes dogs. The roastery at Peffermill sources from more than twenty countries and scores every coffee in its QC lab.

Fortitude Coffee, Stockbridge and Abbeyhill

Fortitude was established in 2014 and roasts in Edinburgh what it describes as sweet, balanced and delicious coffee: seasonal single origins and the Fortitude Blend, sold in the shops and by subscription. The two cafés are in Stockbridge and Abbeyhill.

Cult Coffee Roasters, Newington

Straight-up coffee people, brewing and roasting in Edinburgh since 2014, and, the website adds, not an actual cult. Cult began as a wee café in Newington near the university and the Meadows, and the café is still there. The roasting moved to Newbridge, outside the city, where the drum runs on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, and 2026 brought a new name, Cult Coffee Roasters, and new packaging.

Machina Coffee, Marchmont

Machina was founded in Edinburgh in 2013 as a roastery and equipment supplier, and its only café is a big bright room in Marchmont that it says is open to everyone. Two single-origin espressos, one for milk and one for black, run beside batch brew, cakes come from Company Bakery and Fieldwork, and there are around fifty seats inside and two dozen outside in summer. Laptops are not allowed at weekends. The roastery sits behind Arthur’s Seat on Probatone drum roasters, with a target of 85% direct-from-origin sourcing.

Williams & Johnson, the Shore, Leith

Williams & Johnson’s flagship café shares its room with the roastery: a 12 kg Probat in a co-working and design hub by the water in Leith, where every coffee is roasted and packed. Filter and espresso ranges, subscriptions and wholesale all start here.

Obadiah, Abbeyhill

Obadiah has roasted in Edinburgh since 2017 with what it calls a gentle touch, and its coffee turns up across the city: it roasts the house espresso for Söderberg and supplies The Milkman. There is no café, but the roastery in Abbeyhill welcomes visitors on weekdays, card payments only.

The Milkman, Old Town

Mark opened The Milkman in November 2015 in an old sweet shop on a climbing lane in the Old Town, and a second unit followed on the same lane. It does not roast: espresso comes from Obadiah and the filter and retail shelf rotate through guests such as Girls Who Grind, Five Elephant, Bonanza and La Cabra. Cakes come from KiwiBakes, Fieldwork and the gluten-free bakery Glutteny.

Söderberg, across the city

Söderberg is a Scandinavian bakery first, built on sourdough and the Swedish cardamom bun, with seven Edinburgh cafés, among them the Meadows, Stockbridge, Broughton, Morningside and the West End. The house espresso is roasted for it by Obadiah; the flour comes from Shipton Mill. The Pavilion, at Quartermile, serves sourdough pizza.

What you need to know about Edinburgh specialty coffee

Which Edinburgh cafés roast their own beans? Cairngorm, Artisan Roast, Fortitude, Cult, Machina and Williams & Johnson all roast, and Obadiah roasts for others. The Milkman and the multi-roaster café Little Fitzroy buy from roasters instead.

Where is good coffee in Leith and Stockbridge? Williams & Johnson on the Shore covers Leith, with Artisan Roast’s second café on the way down. Stockbridge has Fortitude, Artisan Roast and a Söderberg within a few streets.

Which are the cosiest places to sit? Machina’s Marchmont room, Artisan Roast’s second café and Cairngorm’s upstairs in Bruntsfield are built for staying. The Milkman is small and better for a short stop on the way up to the Royal Mile.

Are dogs welcome? Artisan Roast says so at Stockbridge. Elsewhere, ask at the counter.