Charlie Ellis discovers a heady brew …
Edinburgh’s New Town is widely seen as an architectural achievement of the highest order. It’s also seen as a manifestation of the way social divisions have been embedded into Edinburgh’s DNA.
There are few spheres where snobbish elitism is more prevalent than the world of specialty or artisan coffee. The cult of coffee, in its most puritanical form, can be deeply alienating for many. So, combining the New Town with specialty coffee is likely to create quite a heady brew!
New life
The ‘speciality brew bar’ Cafēn at 44 Dundas Street is a new entrant on Edinburgh’s coffee scene. Until now, it has been noticeable how few coffee places there are in the heart of the New Town. This lack can add to the sense of lifelessness about the place. It’s hard, when wandering around this area, to actually believe you are in the city centre. It is so resolutely residential.
It’s only natural that the New Town would attract ‘elite’ coffee places, to sit alongside the private galleries and exclusive institutions. Opened at the start of November, Cafēn has quickly demonstrated the pent-up demand hereabouts for high-class specialty coffee. A manifestation, perhaps, of the way that cafes have slowly but surely replaced pubs as social or ‘third’ spaces.
Lowdown on George Street, is one excellent coffee spot in the area, though it gets very busy, very quickly. Bastard Barista, another relative newcomer, sits at the east end of Queen Street – slightly hidden in a basement. Easier to find, Cafēn is a welcome addition and will hopefully lead to more businesses taking the plunge to open in the New Town and generally improve the coffee ‘offer’ here.
At the foot of Dundas Street on Brandon Terrace sits Coffee Angel. Their sister cafe in the Southside has recently shut for good, while their remaining cafe is temporarily closed. The place reeks of the late 1990s in its aesthetic and its, frankly, mediocre coffee. It’s generally quiet when I pass, suggesting that it has failed to keep up with trends and the generally rising standards of coffee in Edinburgh, as manifested in other places around Canonmills such as Hata and 71 Steps, which both sport the newly fashionable deep terracotta colour on their shopfronts.
Team effort and a warm welcome
Cafēn has, the manager informed me, seen ‘really good support from the locals’, with plenty of repeat customers. The reviews online are unanimously positive, glowing even. The business seems to have avoided teething problems, which suggests things have been well planned. I’ve been told, though, that the owner and his friends painted the walls, rushing to meet the opening date. Truly a team effort! This team aspect is very evident in the way the baristas work together, clearly enthusiastic about what they are serving. While there, four of them were sampling a brew, ‘feedbacking’ on its flavour notes and how it could be improved.
Having had a tip-off from a fellow keen coffee aficionado, I made my first visit on a bitterly cold Sunday afternoon. The fresh green paint (by Thomas Paints) was evidence that this was something new, taking over from Salento, seller of artisanal Italian goods. From artisan goods to artisan coffee.
From the pavement, it was clear that the place was busy but I spied one unoccupied spot to sit and scribble. I made my entrance. The door isn’t that easy to open; some customers took a few attempts. I received a warm welcome and felt immediately at ease. Smiling, joking baristas are not that common in the specialty coffee world. Indeed, in the pioneering years (around 2008), a rather ‘cool’ style of customer service seemed positively de rigueur.
Cafēn’s clear determination to serve good coffee was evident from the start. It took some time for my cup to arrive but that is as it should be. Good things shouldn’t be rushed. In the UK we are still dominated by a mindset that coffee is fundamentally a fuel to wake you up in the morning or perk you up post-lunch. In truth, the best coffee should be savoured just like wine.
On a recent trip to London I saw this combination at High Ground in (unsurprisingly) Islington, an area very comparable to the New Town in terms of wealth and architectural elegance. High Ground sits right next door to Ottolenghi, one of London’s foodie ‘hot spots’. It serves coffee by day and wine in the evening. It’s serious about both. Cafēn seems to have a similar level of dedication to high standards, but without a po-faced humourlessness.
Similarly, the people at Cafēn are keen to see their leaf teas drunk at their peak. As one barista told a customer, ‘the recommended time for this one is five minutes’. Again, that sense of ‘good things come to those who wait’, as articulated in the famous Guinness ‘Swimblack’ ad from 1998.
Stewed berries
The nicely made cortado I chose used beans by Dak Coffee Roasters, based in the Netherlands. As the barista put it, it was certainly at the fruitier end of the spectrum, a long way from Italian-style espresso. For me, the coffee was initially stark and punchy, with lingering rose wine notes. I enjoyed every drop. Rather than a caffeine-fuelled punch in the face, it produced a warm glowing feeling; much appreciated on such a chilly day of scarves and thick woollen jumpers.
Cafēn are currently ‘experimenting with a variety of roasters’, with the aim of providing a diversity of flavour profiles but also to help them work out which beans are most appreciated by the customers. I think they had six different beans on offer when I visited. Another roaster they are featuring is La Cabra, including its Elida from Panama, which ‘showcases floral aromatics atop a rich base of stewed berries’. Or, to put it another way, a tasty treat.
Good beans are a start but far from sufficient for good coffee. I heard the baristas discussing some of the intricacies. The manager pointed out that the amount of coffee in the ‘hopper’ can affect how quickly the espresso shot ‘runs’. The hopper is the container that funnels beans straight into the grinder. This is the sort of attention to detail that expensive specialty beans deserve. Ham-fisted techniques can ruin good beans.
Similarly, the baristas were happy to give customers advice about ‘ratios’ and grind for the beans they were taking away for home brewing. They were looking to create a relationship, not just to sell the beans.
A general hubbub
The interior of Cafēn is uncluttered and unfussy, with pale olive-green walls creating a light airiness. The satisfying wood of the furniture adds to a sense of warmth, as does the gentle background music, which doesn’t get in the way of conversation.
The conversation I overheard was very much New Town in character; Glastonbury, a trip to New York and snowboarding were among the topics. However, in such a small place, the conversation blends into a general hubbub, giving the place a lively, relaxed feel.
Good evening
Another positive is Cafēn’s opening times, from 8am to 6pm. Finding good cafes open after 4.30-ish can be difficult and is one reason people gravitate towards the chains. Again, this early-closing tendency is an example of the UK’s outlier status. In most other European countries, cafes stay open well into the evening. I felt that this was starting to change pre-pandemic but opening times have tightened since.
Having longer opening times necessitates two shifts. Not easy when there is, I’ve been told, a significant shortage of good baristas in the city. During peak-Covid, many left the coffee sector, while (due to Brexit) fewer EU nationals can come to the UK to work, especially in a ‘low-status’ role such as working as a barista. Places like Cafēn demonstrate that brewing good coffee is far from easy work.
As someone always on the lookout for good coffee, I have long hoped that some of the shop units in the heart of the New Town would become a cosy neighbourhood coffee spot. Cafēn has answered my prayers.
Like its coffee, Cafēn has made a bold start and has quickly made a name for itself. It’s a clear candidate to join Edinburgh espresso elite.
[The author thanks Lisa Simonis for her comments on an earlier version of this article. Photos by Timothy Thompson and Thomas Paints.]
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