CoffeeBeer >> Double Shot Buzz >>Edinburgh 3
A couple of months ago I went up to Northumberland and then on to Edinburgh with my friend Mike. Mike has travelled all around England and Scotland visiting friends and siblings; but when he told me he’d never been to Edinburgh and would like to visit, I figured it was time for me to go see it again.
Back in the 7th century AD, what would become the city of Edinburgh began life as a fort on Castle Rock called Din Eidyn. It wasn’t until the 12th century, under King David I, that the fort became a royal burgh, and in 1437 the city of Edinburgh became the capital of Scotland. Due to overcrowding the city developed vertically, and that’s why there are so many streets that cross over high in the sky above other streets. As a result, in the 18th century a new planned (and more level) area was built, which became known as New Town, as opposed to the original Old Town, and both of these “towns" are UNESCO World Heritage sites. Besides being famous for its yearly Fringe Festival, Edinburgh is famous for having established the world’s first fire brigade back in 1824, and it has more listed buildings than anywhere else in Scotland, and it also boasts more trees per person than any other UK city. And watching over the city is an extinct volcano known as Arthur’s Seat.
Mike and I stayed in a large flat in a student area just off Holyrood Road, which is not far from Arthur’s Seat and only a short walk to Old Town. It was late afternoon when we arrived and checked into our accommodation. At that point Mike, who had been doing the driving, wanted to stop somewhere for a restorative cup of tea before we headed off in search of pubs and food; and I was starving for some sort of quick snack myself. Across the road from our accommodation we spotted Levels Cafe, so we headed over to check it out.
Inside we found a very spacious student-orientated cafe with several seating areas spread around a large oval counter with coolers full of takeaway food and drink items, a station where a cook prepares and serves fresh hot breakfasts, and an espresso counter with a barista at the far end. Mike quickly ordered a cup of tea, while I purchased a bag of crisps. As we were waiting for our items to take away, a robot butler suddenly appeared and wheeled past us, repeating over and over again, “The cafe will close in 5 minutes. The cafe will close in 5 minutes! THE CAFE WILL CLOSE IN 5 MINUTES!" I said to her, “That’s fine, we’re just stopping in for a moment, and we’re leaving." But she kept repeating herself, over and over again, until we headed toward the exit door with the robot on our tail. I guess she was just doing her job.
The next morning we came over for breakfast. I had a “small" cappuccino, a plain croissant, and a bottle of fresh-squeezed orange juice, and Mike had a cappuccino with chocolate sprinkled on it, as well as the Five-Item deal on cooked breakfast items. The robot butler was present, making her rounds through the tables, and we watched as a young woman offered her tray to the robot, which the robot paused to accept. When Ms Robot eventually came back over to us, Mike offered our tray of dishes, but she turned and rolled off in a huff. I don’t think she liked us. Was it because we came in five minutes before closing yesterday?
My cappuccino came in a tall mug with too much milk, but thankfully it wasn’t automatically sprinkled with chocolate. The coffee itself was very smooth but good, brewed with Fairtrade Arabica barista coffee, my croissant was good, and my orange juice was delicious.
We returned the next morning for another breakfast. This time I went for a cortado, another croissant, and a big cup of smoothie-ready fruit, which the woman blended into a smoothie for me -- and I snuck a bite of Mike’s scrambled eggs which tasted really good.
There are so many student-orientated choices for breakfast, lunch, and snacks available here. The place has the feel of a big cafeteria, with staff preparing fresh food and drinks, as well as lots of fridges and counters offering pastries, beverages, and ready-to-go sandwiches and salads. Since it’s technically in one of the University of Edinburgh buildings, specifically in the English Language Education School Building, this makes sense. The food is all sourced from Scotland and the UK, and the breakfast items include not only Mike’s 5-item breakfast but also a 9-item breakfast for hungrier souls, and a wide range of cereals, yogurts, and Bircher muesli pots. The lunches include paninis, baguettes, baked potatoes, salads, and soups. The place is fully licensed as well, with wine and craft beer.
On another day, we stopped for a late-morning coffee at Coffee Saints, an ethical coffee shop which is part of the Grassmarket Community Project and whose motto is “Coffee with a conscience". The place was very busy, so I suggested we sit in the front sunny room. Because I had already had two strong coffees that morning, I decided to have a decaf macchiato, and Mike went for a regular cappuccino. Our coffees were both properly made and very, very smooth “with top notes", as Mike described it.
While we were there, I noticed that every person in the room besides ourselves was talking, and most were young women with higher voices. So it was quite a treble cacophony underscored by the sole male sitting at the middle table who was speaking Spanish. Combined with the vivid yellow colour notes of the cafe, it was a nice, energetic start to our first full day in Edinburgh.
Coffee Saints also offer breakfasts, Eggs Benedict variations, bagels, and toasties, and they have another cafe over in the St James Quarter.
On our last full day in Edinburgh, the first thing on our agenda was to stop at a recommended whisky shop for a couple of souvenirs to take home. And as there was a coffee shop near the whisky shop, we decided to have breakfast there first. When we walked into Cappuccino, we found a chilled atmosphere, with chilled music playing, and it seemed like every other customer was speaking a different language. I almost felt as if we had stepped through a mini-Eurotunnel into France--except, of course, for the very Scottish whisky supplier nearby.
The barista was very pleasant and quite elegant. After we ordered our coffees and pastries, we took a seat in the back room by a window which looked out onto a private overgrown garden, and we weren’t far from an electric fire mounted on the wall. My cortado and Mike’s cappuccino were served in properly sized corrugated glasses, which I found out are made of recycled coffee husks, so that’s pretty cool. My croissant was nice, just a bit soft in texture but tasty, and Mike’s cheese scone was beautifully textured, just like an old-fashioned scone. As we were surrounded by all these foreign customers, we didn’t have to worry about any Brits arguing if Mike’s breakfast was pronounced “scone" or “scun" or “sconn". (I mean, whatever you want to call it is fine with me--I’ll continue to call it a “scone", thank you very much.) And the scone was heated and served with Irish butter, to make it even more gorgeously perfect. So I had to have a little sliver of it, and fortunately Mike is a generous guy. I also had a fresh mango juice which, as the bottle’s label told me, was pressed from Magdalona River mangoes, which were grown along the Cauca and Magdalena Rivers in western Columbia and considered to be the most flavourful mangoes in the world. And the juice was indeed heavenly.
Cappuccino also offers bagels, pastries, panini sandwiches, and bakes, all which looked very good. When we walked outside, the view across the way featured the Governor’s House on Calton Hill as well as the wonderfully whimsical bronze twirl of the roof of the W Edinburgh Hotel. When the twirl first appeared in 2021, the Guardian compared it to a poo emoji. But hey, you can’t please everybody.
Speaking of controversial designs reminds me of a very short exchange from a few years ago with my Bay Area friend about a very odd invention:
In this era of recreational axe throwing and kitty karaoke, I was still quite surprised when I heard there is apparently a market for scented bowling balls. I've only gone bowling twice in my life, and that was when I was a kid. But the thought of an orange-mango or black cherry bowling ball might get me back into a bowling alley.
After nothing but negative experiences with bowling as a child I don't know if scented balls would be enough to draw me back to the alley. But the possibility of designing bowling ball fragrances spurs the imagination. As a bowling spectator I'd like to experience things like coffee and cigarettes, hazy IPA, microwave cat food, gunpowder, aviation fuel, locker room, and that old standby, vomit.
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