Scotland’s Best Coffee Roasters
Scotland’s Best Coffee Roasters
This group of craft coffee roasters can, quite literally, create your perfect cup of coffee. The first speciality coffee roaster in Scotland, opened in 2007 and now expanding to multiple speciality cafes across Scotland – as well as their central roastery – Artisan Roast focus on how each of the senses receives coffee to individual blends to suit any palate. The beans are ethically sourced and the company actually boasts the biggest collection of single-origin beans in Scotland, all sourced by their team of coffee sourcing and roasting experts.
Named as a winner at the Scottish Café Awards 2019 and a Tripadvisor Traveller’s Choice in 2020, Figment Coffee Company make coffee with green beans from all over the world. Its roastery and café specialise in the huge depths of flavour that the right coffee beans can bring – all ethically sourced and traceable back to the farmers who grew them. Their café offers a variety of delicious espresso options, as well as an extensive menu of fresh food designed in collaboration with Jamie Scott, chef at the famous Newport Restaurant.
Founded in 2011 on top of Glen Lyon, this team of six have been roasting specialty coffee in the Highlands for over a decade. The company’s vision is putting people and the environment before profit, with their 100% traceable and ethically sourced beans. Committed to zero waste and working with specialty grade coffee, their arabica beans are sourced from all over the world and roasted in small batches for a better depth of flavour. You can find them now in Aberfeldy on the banks of the River Tay, where they’re key members of the Highland Perthshire community.
Featuring beans roasted in small batch quantities in their beautiful Leith café, Williams & Johnson Coffee Co take the beans with the season, creating rotating menus of coffees specially curated by their in-house experts. Always searching for the best coffee bean, their in-house blends are designed to bring forward the natural tastes and aromas of the coffee, sourced from remote areas of Rwanda, Columbia, Kenya and more. Not just serving coffee at their flagship café and roastery, Williams & Johnson also offer subscription services, gifts – and at-home brewing kits so you can create your coffee your own way.
Describing themselves as ‘pure air, pure taste, pure Hebridean’, Hinba Coffee Roasters boast the unique challenge of roasting their coffee beans in ‘pure air’, thanks to their picturesque mountain location. Using speciality green coffee beans, their focus is on protecting the environment around them and giving back to the area that helps makes their coffee so delicious. With beans from Brazil, Rwanda and Peru, this family-run roastery aims to unlock the unique flavours within all of the coffee they source, creating delicious, unique blends that also give you room to experiment when you drink them at home.
Photograph by @simon.hird
Named after the ‘Dear Green Place’ nickname for Glasgow, Dear Green deals exclusively in speciality grade coffee beans. Established in 2011 in Glasgow’s fashionable East End, Dear Green is a B Corporation that supplies coffee beans to cafes, restaurants, workplaces and even homes. Every step of their coffee production is ethical and helps to support both the local community roasters and the international farmers who grow the beans. To paraphrase their mantra – ‘They LOVE coffee!’
Not only does Unorthodox bring great coffee to its signature cafes and roastery, they are also very passionate about teaching people what truly makes good coffee. Founded in 2015, the Roasters spent nearly a year visiting all the major coffee producing countries in Central and South America to learn about the beans they harvest and have brought the knowledge back to Scotland. Unorthodox also produces a range of speciality hot chocolates and experimental lattes available in their cafes in Kinross and Stirling.
Founded in Glasgow’s West End in 2012 with a café and a roastery, Papercup is committed to bringing good food and good coffee together under one roof – without compromise. All of their beans are ethically sourced and environmentally conscious, with top roasters constantly sampling, experimenting and tasting to create the best cup of coffee. You can visit their namesake café or order their beans directly to your door through their website.
This award-winning roastery and café, found at Edinburgh Haymarket station and its soon-to-be new home of Bank Street, Galashiels, prides itself on ethically sourced beans roasted with environmentally friendly methods. Having accumulated multiple awards for their single origin roasts and blends, including from the Guild of Fine Food Great Taste Awards, Luckie Beans uses 50% less gas than other comparable roasters. You can purchase their small-batch roasted beans via their website – shipped with fully recyclable packaging.
Based in the beautiful seaside town of North Berwick, Steampunk’s central focus is on quality, sustainability and community. Creating speciality coffees that are served in The Warehouse, alongside a delicious bakery menu, you can also get their specially selected beans delivered straight to your door. And if you’re looking to try out your barista skills, Steampunk also runs a series of online classes to really amp up your coffee game.
Offering purity and transparency in their coffee-making, the Obadiah Collective know everything there is to know about the coffee they sell – from the variety of tree it grew on to the conditions it was processed in. They sell delicately roasted coffee beans in wholesale and as a subscription package to customers, partnering with people around the world to make the process of making coffee as transparent as it can be.
Found on Argyle Street in Glasgow, Steamie creates fine, small-batch coffee that’s freshly roasted and available to be delivered to your door. Their beans are roasted using the traditional method – in a drum roaster. Beans are harvested in season and at their freshest, with roasters constantly exploring the unique history of the beans they purchase. They work hard to ensure every step of the supply chain for their coffee is ethical and fully transparent.
Their slogan? ‘Roasted for the common good’. Common coffee isn’t just about making great coffee, it’s about how coffee impacts everyone’s lives, from the drinkers to the growers. Established in 2018, they stick to four flavour roasts – strong, sweet, bright and complex – for their blends, which you can buy via their website. If you want to try it in person, head to Edinburgh’s Mayyn Café for a cup made with one of their speciality selections.
A speciality roastery in Arbroath, Angus, Sacred Grounds is the only coffee roastery currently established in Angus. Sourcing green beans from sustainable and ethical sources all over the world, the company prioritises a high-quality roasting process to make great coffee every time. Opened in 2015, they are quickly building a great reputation for attention to detail and quality in their coffee. You can buy their beans from their website and grind them at home to achieve the perfect flavour of their carefully curated blends.
Found in three locations across Edinburgh, Eion’s headquarters is a boutique roaster in the Stockbridge area of Edinburgh. You can order their coffee straight to your door or head for one of their cafes for the perfect cup, as well as a simple of their loose-leaf teas. Though their base is small, it’s full of heart – and its enthusiastic team will be more than happy to talk to you about the beans on offer – and where they came from.
The oldest roaster on this list, Thomson’s was founded in Glasgow in 1841, making ground coffee for the local coffee houses. Now, it’s an independently owned family business, bringing quality and integrity to all of their coffees. Traditional methods are blended with artisanal trends and experiments to create great coffee every time. Order via their website or stop into their Southside roastery where a small shop welcomes local customers.
This family-run business in the heart of the Cairngorm Mountains ensures regular roastings keep their beans in good condition – and produces great coffee when it goes to grind. As well as supplying coffee to the locals via their location on Bridge Street, Royal Deeside, you can order coffee beans and loose-leaf teas via their website, as well as local sweet treats including chocolates and traditional tablet.
Scotland’s Best Coffee Roasters
