Lowdown Coffee
The house mineralizes its water three different ways and tastes every incoming coffee against all three before choosing which water to brew that bean with.
Why go
The room has been in the basement of a Georgian townhouse on George Street since February 2016, and the program is a brew bar's: coffees bought in small quantities from European roasters and rotated weekly, espresso on a Slayer, filter through the Kalita Wave.1 The Slayer matters because it lets a barista drop the pressure during extraction, and the house uses that deliberately: their current espresso, a washed Guatemalan grown at 1,750 masl and roasted omni so it works on both bars, is described as pulled at reduced pressure on the Slayer for clarity and balance.
1 Paul Anderson has owned it from the start, and the kit choices are his. He grinds espresso on an EK43, a big flat-burr machine built for filter, and told The Scotsman in 2017 that the choice adds considerably to the workflow, but we think the benefits are worth it.
4 Service is at the table, which is unusual in specialty coffee and changes the pace of a visit. The water claim is the house's own and no third party has tested it. Three named mineralization recipes checked against every incoming lot is a level of fuss almost nobody in a British city center bothers with.
Order this / avoid
- Order: whatever is on filter that week. The rotation is the whole proposition, and The List says the staff
know when a long pour might enhance flavour and what blend goes best with oat milk.
3 If you want the house's own statement of taste, take the espresso. Bags of beans are on the shelf to carry out.3 - Avoid: planning it as a fast stop. Table service and a filter brewed to order set the clock, and the room shuts at half past five.
What locals & experts say
- Time Out Edinburgh (15 July 2024):
Head down a few stairs to a basement on George Street and you'll encounter some of the best coffee in Edinburgh.
It sums up the operation:Lowdown's design is minimal and its menu small, but everything is thoughtfully prepared and served with care.
2 - The List, Eat & Drink 365:
A minimalist interior ensures the star of the show at Lowdown is the coffee itself.
The same write-up sends people fora mouthwatering array of homemade cakes, with veg-packed salad bowls and pomegranate-speckled avocado toast.
3 - Scottish Independent Coffee Guide, second edition (reported by The Scotsman, 2017): the guide picked Lowdown as one of seven places in Scotland worth a trip for the brewing itself, on the grounds that
only seasonal, exciting and expressive beans are on offer.
4 - Jeff's note: his saved row says "Good coffee," which is the shortest possible version of everything above.
Good to know
- Timing: 9.30am to 5.30pm Monday to Saturday, from 10am on Sunday, per The List. Daytime only, so this is a morning or an afternoon and never an evening.
- Booking: walk in.
- Getting there: the lower ground floor of 40 George Street, down a set of steps from the pavement. Anyone who needs step-free access should call ahead.
- Hygiene: the Food Standards Agency register holds no record for this premises. Neighbouring coffee bars on the same street do appear, which makes the absence specific to this address and worth a council enquiry.
- Website: the live site is lowdown.cafe. Several listings, including The List's own outbound link, point at lowdown.coffee, which does not resolve.
Jeff's take (his words)
- Note: "Good coffee." Two words, and the water program above is the argument for why he is right.
Verdict
should-visit — For a coffee bar the craft IS the drink, and this one has a program behind the machine. Coffees come in small lots from European roasters and turn over weekly, espresso runs on a Slayer at reduced pressure through a flat-burr grinder the owner admits slows his own service down, and the water is mineralized three ways with each new lot tasted against all three. Time Out called it some of the best coffee in Edinburgh in 2024 and the Scottish Independent Coffee Guide picked it as a place worth travelling for. It stays below must-visit because the format is one a good European city can offer in several rooms, the food is toast and cake, and the accolades are a city list and a guide edition.