Stylish new place for coffee lovers in the Old Town

THERE ARE DECENT places in the vicinity, such as Milkman (two branches on Cockburn Street), Hideout (Upper Bow), The Edinburgh Larder (Blackfriars Street) and Procaffeination (St Mary’s Street), but otherwise the Old Town area is dominated by chains and touristy cafés for whom coffee is something of an (overpriced) afterthought. Things may now be changing.

Santu Coffee on the Canongate has recently arrived to fill a significant gap and to raise the general standard. They have judged that, as well as a passing tourist trade, there will be sufficient coffee lovers who work and live nearby - including the well populated places such as Moray House, The Scottish Parliament and Dynamic Earth. After feeling deserted for many months, The Royal Mile has again started to regain some of its usual liveliness with the chatter of tourists again evident in the old closes, shops and the museums.

Santu Coffee is a snug and stylish newcomer on the

Canongate, a few doors down from The Museum of Edinburgh. Although primarily a takeaway, they do have one comfortable armchair and a wooden bench for those wanting to sit in. It’s a lovely cosy spot to shelter from any wintry weather. On our recent visit there, it was sleeting outside, and a warm drink and shelter was much needed. While there you can enjoy their excellent coffee, teas and hot chocolate- as well as a selection of baking (their almond croissants are particularly tasty).

Santu are aware that they are taking something of a risk with this venture. As one of their baristas put it, “there may be a very good reason why there have been no other specialty coffee places on the Royal Mile”. They are also aware that their style of course might not be to the taste of many of the tourists, especially those from Mediterranean countries. They will likely be used to more traditional dark roasts, rather than the more subtle and varied third wave coffee which Santu serve, using beans from their own range, all with subtly different characteristics. They currently have four roasts on offer, with Coffee 1 their usual expresso, with Coffee 2 generally on filter. Coffee 1 is grown by Alfredo Casagrande and has sweet and fruity notes with a balanced body. All four are sourced from growers in Brazil. For many years Brazilian coffee tended to be overlooked the specialty coffee world, due to the size and scale of the Brazilian coffee industry. Only a small percentage of the beans produced there are of the specialty variety, but those that are are often of exceptional quality.

Washington Vieira, the man behind Santu, has a wealth of experience in the coffee trade, having grown up on his grandparent’s coffee farm in Brazil before working as a coffee trader in New York. Santu supplies beans to a number of coffee houses and eateries in Scotland, including the Milk cafés and the recently opened Kate’s on Causewayside.