Artisan Roast Leith Walk
The roaster that started Scottish specialty in 2007 now rests coffee in a whisky cask for a month before it sells it.3
Why go
Gustavo Pardo and Michael Wilson opened Scotland's first specialty roastery and cafe under this name in 2007, and the business now runs five shops across Edinburgh plus a roastery and cupping lab.43 All of that belongs to the company, and the reason to walk to this door in particular is that The Skinny and Time Out both pick it out of the five.21 The room was a funeral director's office and the walls and ceilings were stripped back to find what was under them.5 It runs a vegetarian kitchen through the day with scones and cinnamon buns baked on site, and the evenings go to comedy nights, yoga classes and art workshops.5 The roasting range runs wider than the specialty default: light lots for people who want them, deliberately darker ones where the bean takes it, occasional Cup of Excellence lots, and coffee rested a month in whisky casks.3
Order this / avoid
- Order: the Ethiopian. Banko Gotiti has been on both washed and natural, the washed reading bergamot, stone fruit and jasmine on the roaster's own note and the natural blueberry, violet, mandarin and lime, at GBP 13.00 a bag when it was read in August 2026.5
- Order: a cinnamon bun with it, which is Time Out's instruction whichever branch you end up in.2
- Order: lunch off the vegetarian kitchen if a pastry will not do the job.5
- Avoid: reading one shop's hygiene record as the brand's. Each door is rated on its own and two of the five sit on Improvement Required.6
What locals & experts say
- The Skinny (Jamie Dunn):
An Edinburgh institution, you'll find several Artisan Roasts across the city, and it goes without saying, the coffee is ace at all of them. The Leith shop is particularly good: with plenty of space, it hosts regular spoken-word and comedy events.
1 - Time Out Edinburgh:
Our favourite? The sun-filled branch on Leith Walk, perfect for people watching. But whichever you choose, make sure you grab a sticky cinnamon bun.
2 - Sprudge, on the roastery rather than this room:
Artisan Roast was the first speciality coffee roaster to open in Scotland, starting back in 2007. They have played a pivotal role in establishing the reputation of coffee roasted in Scotland.
3 - Awards: none recorded against this premises. The Scottish Indy Coffee Guide selection The Scotsman carried in 2017 names Artisan Roast at Broughton Street, Bruntsfield Place and Raeburn Place, and Leith Walk is not among the addresses.4
Good to know
- Sites: this page is the Leith Walk shop at 72-74 Leith Walk EH6 5HB. The Food Hygiene Information Scheme lists three siblings, at Broughton Street EH1 3RJ, Bruntsfield Place EH10 4ER and Raeburn Place EH4 1HH.6
- Hygiene: the Food Hygiene Information Scheme rates this premises Pass, from a City of Edinburgh inspection on 5 March 2024, FHRSID 1704640, with no re-inspection pending as at 11 August 2026. That is about 29 months old and past the eighteen-month bound, so nothing current is on file either way. The siblings differ and the difference matters: Bruntsfield Place holds Improvement Required from November 2021 and Raeburn Place holds Improvement Required from May 2024, both with nothing pending, and neither of those attaches to this door.6
- Hours: 07:00 to 17:30 Monday to Friday, 09:30 to 17:00 Saturday and Sunday.5
- Price: retail bags ran GBP 13.00 to GBP 14.00 on the webshop when it was read on 11 August 2026. Nobody publishes a price for a cup.
- A name to expect on a receipt: the food hygiene scheme files this premises as Artisan Roast Circular Coffee. What that relationship is has not been established here.6
- Getting there: the Pilrig end of Leith Walk, on the tram line, about fifteen minutes downhill from the top of Leith Walk.
Jeff's take (his words)
- Note: Not one of my saves.
Verdict
could-visit — The roastery behind this counter is the one that started Scottish specialty coffee, and it is still doing the interesting work: Cup of Excellence lots when it can get them, and coffee rested a month in a whisky cask, which is a Scottish idea nobody else in the city is selling. The catch is that all of that belongs to the company and not to this room, and the honest question for a reader is whether to walk to Leith Walk rather than to whichever of the five shops is closer. Time Out and The Skinny answer it the same way, Time Out calling this its favourite branch and The Skinny calling the Leith shop particularly good, and the room itself gives them something to work with: a former funeral director's premises with a vegetarian kitchen, scones and cinnamon buns baked daily, and comedy and spoken word in the evenings, which no other specialty counter in this city runs. What keeps it off a higher rung is that nobody has published a verdict on the cup here, the credentials are the roastery's, and the brand's register record is uneven across its doors. Take a bag home and the buying speaks for itself.