Exploring Edinburgh’s Coffee Shops

As I was in Edinburgh for the Festival and the Tattoo I spent most of my time dashing from place to place leaving little time for really exploring the the city’s coffee and foodie scene. However, as I do need coffee to function most days and I do like sitting in quirky coffee shops and people watching, I did aim to try at least one ‘interesting’ coffee shop each day. What I found made me realise I do need to spend more time exploring Edinburgh’s coffee shops as this city has a whole lot to offer on the cafes and coffee shops front.

Grab yourself a coffee and settle in while I share my findings with you.

The Undercroft Cafe

On my first morning I spent a bit of time getting my bearings and sorting out a travel pass for the week and finding a box office where I could collect the tickets I’d ordered for various events at the Festival.

By the time I collected my tickets I was ready for a coffee.

I didn’t have to go far because the box office was next to a church which just happened to have sign advertising a cafe in its crypt. It also looked like a really unusual building, one that would be well-worth a look inside so of course I popped in.

Before I even had chance to find the stairs to get down to the crypt a lady at a desk asked if I was there for the event.

Event?

I suppose I should have expected it as it was the Edinburgh Festival and I knew that over the space of a few weeks thousands of events were taking place. (Seriously the directory of events is like a massive phone book.) Because there are so many events, they take place in all sorts of random places. The Festival isn’t just a good opportunity to see and hear lots of comedians, authors and performers, but also a great opportunity to see inside lots of buildings and venues you’d never normally get the chance to see.

So of course this church I’d stumbled across was an event venue too. They were hosting a series of interviews with authors using a kind of Desert Island Discs theme. Each author was asked about their favourite music and the music that had influenced them and then that piece of music was played.

I said no, I was just here for a coffee and headed down to the cafe. It was a proper church style coffee shop with older ladies, presumably volunteers, serving tea, coffee and cakes. There was nothing trendy or quirky about it and it wouldn’t usually be the kind of place to make a ‘best of’ or ‘top ten’ list, but the coffee was good and fair trade and it was easy to get a table. As well as homemade cakes and scones, they serve breakfast rolls and lunch and try to use organic and locally sourced produce where possible. There was local art on the walls and the staff were friendly. Sometimes these places can be the best finds.

I finished my coffee just before the event was due to start so decided I might as well go to it. The interviewee was author Louise Welsh. I thought I hadn’t read any of her books, but later realised that she was the author of ‘Tamburlaine Must Die’, a book I read and enjoyed years ago. After hearing her speak I now want to read more of her books.

She was being interviewed by Andrea Baker who is a mezzo soprano. I had no idea what a mezzo soprano was apart from that it sounded musical. I’ve since looked up Andrea Baker and she has snippets of her singing and interviews on her website. Her voice is amazing. I still don’t really know what it is that makes someone a mezzo soprano but I have decided I like mezzo sopranos.

The event took place in the church itself which as I’ve already mentioned was an unusual building. It’s actually oval in shape.

This is what Scotland’s Churches Trust has to say about it:

This beautiful elliptical church with its delicate spire and Adam-style plaster ceiling has been described as the architectural gem of the New Town. It was the first church built in the New Town, in 1784, and it was designed by Major Andrew Frazer. Two churches, one St Andrew’s (for Scotland) and the other St George’s (for England), were planned as principal elements in the New Town and originally intended to face each other down the length of George Street, but Sir Laurence Dundas acquired the intended plot in St Andrew’s Square first and built his town house, relegating the church to its present position. The elegant Corinthian portico beckons you in to the delicate oval interior with its fine plasterwork and sweeping gallery. Two fine 20th-century stained glass windows, one by Douglas Strachan (1875-1950), the other by Alfred Webster (1884-1915). Organ by Wells-Kennedy 1984. Peal of eight bells.

Scotland’s Churches Trust

The space inside made a lovely venue. Unfortunately the audience was very thin on the ground. I guess this was because it was a weekday afternoon and because there are so many events all competing with each other. The upside to the sparse audience was that the event felt very personal; like sitting with a couple of friends listening to them have a chat. And at the end Louise came over and thanked us individually for coming.

I definitely have to read more of her books.

As for the cafe … well, I not only discovered a lovely little cafe, but also a beautiful historic church, got to unexpectedly attend my first event of the Festival and found an author I want to read more from. What’s not to like?

The Undercroft Cafe is open Monday to Friday, 10am-2pm.

The Elephant House

The Elephant House was high on my list of coffee shops to go to because as well as being known as a nice place, it’s also known (very well-known) as one of the cafes J K Rowling used to sit in to write her early Harry Potter books.

I did wonder if I’d actually be able to get in to the Elephant House though as I’d heard about huge queues and knew I wouldn’t want to waste away my limited time standing in one. Fortunately, on the morning I went the queue wasn’t even outside the door and I got a table within a couple of minutes. It did fill up a bit more later on, but didn’t get anywhere near as bad as I’d thought it might.

On the Elephant House’s website there’s a link to a video of J K Rowling being interviewed following publication of her first Harry Potter book. She’s sitting inside the cafe and there are lots wide angled shots that show the place hasn’t changed much since those days.

What’s really different though is she is filmed walking in and joining the end of the short queue waiting for a table. No-one gives her a second glance. Throughout the interview you can see people at the other tables just carrying on with their own conversations and not seeming to notice her at all. It would be pandemonium if that were to happen today. Although the cafe is very nice (I did wonder if it would have become a bit gimmicky) and I’d definitely go back, I do think most people who visit are there because of the Harry Potter connection.

There is a whole display of newspaper clips and magazine articles which mention the cafe in connection with J K Rowling and so many Chinese fans visit that the menu is now in Chinese as well as English. Other writers such as Alexander McCall Smith and Ian Rankin have also been associated with the Elephant House and there is some information on their connections too.

As for the coffee? Well, the cafe refers to itself as ‘a gourmet tea and coffee house and restaurant’ and they say their coffee is roasted locally and only in small quantities. They must be doing something right as it does seem to have the power to turn a whole range of writers into best-selling authors.

I had an egg roll and a cafetiere and both were good. I sat in the back room which is cosier than the front area and has great views of the castle. The decor is definitely elephant themed and there were pictures of elephants and ornamental elephants everywhere. They apparently have more than 600 elephantine objects in their collection, some of which are for sale.

The Elephant House is open Monday to Thursday 8am – 10pm; Friday 8am – 11pm; Saturday 9am – 11pm and Sunday 9am – 10pm.

Traverse Coffee Shop

As I’d been to one of J K Rowling’s old haunts, I thought I’d try to bag a few more. After a bit of research I came up with the Traverse Coffee Shop. This is a tiny cafe on the ground floor of the Traverse Theatre. Although the theatre company has been around since the 1960s it only moved into this building in 1992. It’s a very arty theatre and cinema and I could see it as a good place for arts minded folk to hang out, but didn’t seem like a comfortable writing venue as the tables were quite small and the chairs not very comfortable. Maybe it’s changed since JK’s day.

I ordered a coffee and a veggie haggis roll. As I sat and people watched I felt very unhip as all the other customers seemed to be ordering soya lattes and oat milk hot chocolates.

I would go back here but probably only if I was seeing a film or performance. They had a couple of interesting events advertised as part of the Festival but they were either sold out or on at times when I already had tickets elsewhere. It seems like they always had interesting stuff on offer though and so I will check it out next time I’m in Edinburgh.

Traverse Coffee Shop is open Monday to Friday 8am – 4pm.

Black Medicine Coffee Co

The cafe JK spent the most time in was Nicolson’s Cafe which was owned by her brother-in-law. It’s long since been sold on though and was a Chinese restaurant for a while and is now a bistro called Spoon. Although I could have visited I thought it was now so far removed from what it had been in its JK days and as I wanted to go to coffee shops, not bistros, I crossed it from my list.

However, underneath the first floor former Nicolson’s, at street level, is a cafe called Black Medicine. The name itself intrigued me enough to make me want to go inside and once inside I wasn’t disappointed.

It looks quite small from outside and seemed crowded when I first went in. It was really busy but there’s a seating section towards the back which I didn’t see at first and also a basement area. I asked a man sitting in a booth by himself if I could share his table and a few minutes later another woman also asked if she could sit with us. There did seem to be enough people on their own to make sharing quite normal.

The cafe has been around since 1998 and their website says they were upstairs in the old Nicolson’s originally and just moved downstairs. So it kind of has a tenuous JK connection after all.

Black Medicine, by the way, got its name because that’s what Native Americans used to call coffee. I rather like the idea of my coffee being black medicine.

Along with my coffee, I had a toasted bagel with goats cheese. It looked more like a waffle when it arrived, but it tasted good. As did the black medicine.

Black Medicine is open Monday to Saturday 8am – 8pm and Sunday 9am – 8pm.

Jenners

Jenners Department Store is an Edinburgh Institution. It was an independent store until 2005 when it was bought by House of Frazer, but still retained a feeling of independence. I didn’t particularly want to go to a department store but I’d been told it was a beautiful building to see so thought it worth popping in. I’ve also heard rumours that it might be closing down, though that be the actual House of Frazer store further along Princes Street. In any case, I thought I should go in and not risk missing my chance.

The store opened in 1838 and is Scotland’s oldest department store. It’s still in its original location, but had a rebuild towards the end of the 1800s following a fire. The store is quite nice to see, but the cafe is a bog-standard department store cafe with nothing particularly exciting on the menu and slow service. Go to see the store, but go elsewhere for your coffee.

Southern Cross Cafe

The Southern Cross Cafe is one I came across by accident. It’s a tiny place on Cockburn Street which runs steeply downhill from the Royal Mile towards Waverley Station. I spotted it when I was on my way somewhere else, but liked the look of it and so made a point of going back. It doesn’t have a website, just a Facebook page which doesn’t give much information and isn’t regularly updated.

I’d thought from the name that it must have an Aussie influence, but I’ve not been able to find out much about it. Despite its lack of prominence on the internet it’s a really popular place and seemed really busy every time I went past.

Mimi’s Little Bakehouse

Earlier in the post I was all about coffee shops with a J K Rowling connection. For the last part of the post I’m switching to coffee shops with an Outlander connection.

Mimi’s Little Bakehouse is a little cafe in Gibb’s Close which is one of the tiny closes or alleyways running off the Royal Mile. Gibb’s Close is easy to find as it is alongside the Museum of Edinburgh (apparently a really good museum, but one I didn’t get time to check out for myself).

The reason I found myself having an afternoon coffee stop at Mimi’s wasn’t because of the museum or even because of Gibb’s Close itself, but because of the next close along which is called Bakehouse Close.

I’d specifically gone in search of Bakehouse Close because it was one of the locations used in the Outlander TV series. It plays the part of Carfax Close which is where Jamie has his print shop in Edinburgh and where Claire first finds him when she returns to the 18th century. You can even climb the steps Claire climbed to get to the print shop. Of course there’s not actually a print shop at the top, just a closed door, but it’s still fun to re-enact.

The close, like many of Edinburgh’s closes, is a lovely little space surrounded by tall old buildings and is quite a peaceful haven from the bustle of the busy main street outside.

Once I’d had my fill of pretending to be Claire I was ready for a coffee and spotted the sign for Mimi’s Little Bakehouse pointing the way in to the next door close.

The Bakehouse is a tiny place with a few tables inside and a few outside. As it was a gorgeous day I sat outside with a coffee and a giant custard cream and enjoyed the peace and the sun.

Gibb’s Close wasn’t always so peaceful though and it’s famous (infamous?) in its own right – not just because of its proximity to Bakehouse Close. In the 1820s Gibb’s Close was the scene of a gruesome murder by the notorious serial killers Burke and Hare. They made money by providing the anatomy students at Edinburgh University with a steady stream of corpses to practise on. Unfortunately the corpses weren’t actually corpses when they first came into contact with Burke and Hare and the pair were accused of murdering at least 16 people, though it’s thought it was probably a lot more. They murdered a young prostitute, Mary Patterson, in Gibb’s Close.

I recommend doing like I did and popping into Mimi’s after a visit to Bakehouse Close.

Mimi’s Little Bakehouse is open Monday to Friday 8am – 6pm and Saturday and Sunday 10am – 6pm.

The Colonnades at the Signet Library

This is another place I went to because of its Outlander connection. I hadn’t heard of it before I started researching Outlander locations in Edinburgh, but now I’ve been I’d recommend it even if you have no interest whatsoever in Outlander.

The Signet Library is Edinburgh’s law library and most of it is out of bounds. However, one floor has been opened to the public and houses a rather posh cafe. This is the Colonnades at the Signet Library. It’s a beautiful building and the part where the cafe is situated has rows of tall Corinthian columns behind which are alcoves lined with old books. Some tables are in the central part of the room, but many are right inside the alcoves.

The afternoon teas look amazing here and I really want to go back for one. I went just after opening time on a Sunday morning so it wasn’t really afternoon tea time of day and I just had a pot of tea and a scone.

My tea and extra hot water were served in silver teapots. Sugar was in rough cubes with tongs, there was a fancy tea strainer and the cutlery was heavy and felt very expensive.

I sat at the far end of the room near the fireplace and had a lovely view of the whole space stretching before me. It was so beautiful I could have stayed all day.

In Outlander the library is used as the interior of the Governor of Jamaica’s house – the scenes where there is a big party with everyone elegantly dressed and sipping champagne were filmed here. The show used the upstairs floor of the library as well as this one, but this is the only one the public are allowed to see.

Although I was here on a Sunday morning, it was August and the height of Festival season. Outside on the Mile it was already busy, with crowds and buskers and tour groups and people handing out leaflets, yet a few metres away the Signet Library was like a different world.

Did I mention I’m definitely coming back here for afternoon tea?

The Colonnades at the Signet Library is open Sunday to Friday 11am – 5pm, though do check as times seem to change.

The Sherlock Holmes Tea Room at the Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Centre

This last coffee shop isn’t actually a coffee shop at all, but a bit of a snack bar/cafe area in the Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Centre. It’s in the front room of a lovely Victorian townhouse in the West End. The centre is named after Sir Arthur Conan Doyle because back in the day he was known as much for his interest in Spiritualism as he was for bring the creator of Sherlock Holmes.

The centre holds regular talks on Spiritualism as well as readings and aims to offer an holistic approach to the spiritual, physical and mental wellness of society . You can also partake in different kinds of therapeutic treatments or attend a tai chi or pilates class.

I visited because it was the venue for one of the events I attended as part of the Edinburgh Festival. After the talk we had a guided tour of the house and then I settled into the front room with a coffee and pretended I was a rich Victorian lady of the house for a while.

It’s a beautiful building and calling in for a coffee provides the chance to see the inside of one of these houses. It’s a bit of a walk (or jump on a bus) from the main part of the city but is lovely and peaceful and you get to see a different bit of Edinburgh.

The Sherlock Holmes Tea Room is open Monday to Friday 10am – 3pm.

So what do you think of my exploration of Edinburgh’s coffee shops? Have you been to any of them? Are there any you’d recommend to me for next time? And do you like visiting coffee shops and cafes with literary or film connections? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

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