7 cafés·last updated April 2026
Two in-house roasters: Argyle Place under the Mr Eion label, Uplands Roast on direct-trade Vietnamese beans. Machina holds the neighbourhood espresso standard.
Ulterior Motives · 16 Jul
For three weeks every August, Edinburgh stops hosting festivals and turns into one.
Ulterior Motives · 31 May
June is Edinburgh's own month, the one before August hands the city over to the Fringe.
Two in-house roasters: Argyle Place under the Mr Eion label, Uplands Roast on direct-trade Vietnamese beans. Machina holds the neighbourhood espresso standard.
Last updated April 2026
An own-roastery with a direct-trade Vietnamese sourcing relationship and a named producer. Beans retail under two SKUs, Tradition and Pioneer, and go home with you.
Roasts under the Mr Eion label and takes the bar as seriously as the kitchen. The extraction runs light and balanced; this is coffee that would be interesting regardless of the food.
Brunch is the draw on Marchmont Road. The coffee is locally roasted, which puts it a step above the neighbourhood default.
A flat white pulled with genuine care for the espresso-milk ratio, in a room with actual space to sit and stay. The most intentional coffee option Marchmont has.
The espresso holds across the whole team, the kind of consistency a neighbourhood cafe earns over time, not overnight. Marchmont pricing, no pretension.
The espresso converts sceptics; the Meadows setting keeps them. Good enough to seek out, easy enough to return to.
The espresso is reliable and the sandwiches are the reason half of Marchmont walks in. Bev and Jasmine run it as a proper neighbourhood independent: consistent, warm, not trying to be anything else.
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Ulterior Motives · 16 Jul
For three weeks every August, Edinburgh stops hosting festivals and turns into one.
Ulterior Motives · 31 May
June is Edinburgh's own month, the one before August hands the city over to the Fringe.