Cult Espresso

Great place. Super hipster. Great cappuccino, nice atmosphere and very clean. Definitely recommended.

This place is aesthetically very nice in design. Coffee I am told is great. (I’m not a coffee drinker) The tea selection is fantastic they even have Jasmine Pearl Tea where leaves are rolled up with jasmine oil. You can buy it but it’s usually expensive but here the tea costs just as much as an earl grey or a green. The hot chocolate there is very yummy but a dark chocolate.
The food it’s good. I had a cauliflower salad which was delicious! And their other salads also look good. The food they offer is not vast but it looks tasty although more on the expensive side for a café. Breakfast here is not recommended but a light lunch or a coffee break is nice.
The staff and place is full of quarks. And they seem really into coffee like every other café in Edinburgh. But the food and tea helps to set them apart from just a café place. I will say it is quite expensive here compared to Nile Valley but you do get great quality.

So hipster it hurts! Ska music, endless tatts, haircuts, wallet chains, *cue head bobbing to music*
They don’t use skimmed milk (cries and slaps head), I was offered semi skim but they aren’t the same thing and being offered semi skim like a perceived suitable alternative irks me somewhat. As a result I asked for a very dry cappuccino — go easy on the liquid, lots of foam.
I knew the moment he just swirled and tipped the milk directly into the cup from the foaming jug it was going to be way too milky for my liking, especially since he filled the cup right up… and it was. You can’t just pour it and expect it to have more foam than milk, a spoon is required to separate foam from liquid. They might make good coffee, they just weren’t any good at making mine the way I like, if I have to explain more than once, I’m not likely to go back to waste money on coffee I don’t enjoy. It’s a shame because I wanted a good experience.

Like this place. I was sittin’ there in me plaid shirt and desert boots as is my wont, listening to hip hop, yup that’s me (slightly unfamiliar with this particular artiste).Industrial brick work lines the walls and a buffed concrete floor is finished by a no nonsense glass frontage and way down the back in the vole hole, two friendly beardy fellas. It has two things I like, in fact that are necessary to a good café, a. a view — (albeit a pretty shitty one) with which to watch the world go by and b. the feeling you could just sit here for a good while after ordering just one coffee without being hassled (decent coffee — a faint whiff of licorice). Seating is primarily benches and stools,(think I was lucky in getting one of the few comfortable seats). Unfortunately after a while some annoying people came in and spoke loudly and ruined the moment. But hey, can’t blame the café for that! Be warned — close to Meadows/​student twattery.

I am slightly ashamed to admit that I’m not really that fussy about my coffee and will quite happily drink instant as I’m more of a tea person but the friend that I went with is slightly obsessed and she loved having so many different serving options including some that I’d never heard of before and two different types of beans. My latte had beautiful milk art on the top and was lovely. You need to accept that it’s a hipster coffee shop and all about the coffee with great cakes then it’s great.
Even during the fringe on a bank holiday weekend, mid-​afternoon on a Saturday, we were able to get a table easily and coffee was delivered quickly by friendly staff who are very knowledgeable about what they serve. They have a few seats outdoors if you manage to find a rare sunny day in Edinburgh.

A very cool new coffee shop enters the already strong Edinburgh coffee scene. Bare brick walls, a healthy option of cakes, loud music on the stereo (but a lot of old school stuff, which I like) and friendly baristas that have a taste for waist coats. Nice. Oh, and good coffee, of course.
I know they have beans that aren’t Artisan Roast or Square Mile (both of which are awesome beans, but what Edinburgh doesn’t need is another coffee doing the same as all the other coffee shops). They get their beans from all over, I wish I could remember where, but I know the baristas are passionate about coffee, tasting, and latte art particularly (one day I got a wee rose in my flat white, very cute). Basically, they do good coffee, they’re passionate about coffee, and they’re bringing something to the Edinburgh coffee scene that’s a wee bit different bean and taste wise.
They also are now doing milkshakes and iced tea through the aeropress (I think?) They get their cakes from an amazing bakery, their soup and sandwiches are from Union of Genius, and they have free wifi. These are all good things.
I like it a lot here. It’s long and narrow with bare bricks, but the big window half way down brings in natural light, and the happy tunes make it a happy place to be. Nice wee addition to the South side!

Love it here! Sometimes a bit crowded, but never gets loud, which is nice for studying/​people watching. They’ve got really great teas, as well as excellent cakes.
Personal favorites: Bread pudding (chocolate AND vanilla mmm) blueberry & lavender cake.
bonus: if you’re forget your headphones and can’t listen to music it’s OK because the tunes they play are always fab.

I really like this cute little coffee place.
It’s largely run by a pair of young dudes, and the whole place has a bit of a subtle child of the 90s vibe too it.
I really like the coffee here, which frankly is the most important thing! There do a neat little selection of cakes to go with your beverage, i don’t think they do savoury things though.
Being on Buccleugh st makes this place off the beaten track a little for everyone except students, but they seem a more chilled out bunch on average than the ones who seem to frequent places like Black medicine and Brewlab. It’s fast becoming a favourite of mine for a cheeky out of office coffee.

Top spot for great coffee and to chill out. Roundhill and guests. Espresso and Kalita Wave (pour over). Nice big space to chill out and take your time. Food also. Friendly folk.

This place reminds me so much of home, that I may just come here when i’m feeling a bit homesick to both remind me why I love it and remind me why I left. Where do I hail from? Vancouver, Canada — the hipster haven of the pacific west coast.
Just with the word «hipster», i’ve lost at least half of the folks reading but that would be a shame. Why? Because yes, hipster has gotten itself a bad rap and yes, there are elements to the hipster that annoy me — cut off jeans being a thing, making cheap beer cool, moustaches… but folks, there are a few things that the hipster does well:
Three piece suits and coffee.
Now, you won’t find an abundance of three piece suits here (though, you wouldn’t look entirely out of place wearing one) but good coffee — good coffee you will find.
It’s sort of a funny time to visit this place, as there’s both construction all over the darn place and on my last visit, someone had smashed the front window, but don’t let that deter you. Inside is a cute little café just begging for you to sit down, sip a coffee and read some Poe (most hipster sounding author I could think of at 7am…).
It’s tiny but well laid out, the folks who work here are chipper, the coffee is good and if I lived in the area, it would be a great place to plunk in the afternoon to get some work done.
I won’t be making any special treks from Stockbridge for my Cult fix, but I will definitely make a point to pop in when I’m in the area.

I stopped in for a coffee at Cult Espresso and I have to say the following:
The coffee was superb, the carrot cake was excellent, and the service was quite nice. The gentlemen who were working there knew more about coffee than I could ever know, and they tried to help me pick one that they thought I would enjoy. They got it right, the coffee and cake were perfect.
However…
The atmosphere was a bit too ‘hipster’ for my taste. This doesn’t mean that I won’t be back, but I don’t know that it would be my first choice either. Also, I couldn’t connect to their wifi, which meant that I couldn’t really get any work done there. This may not be the type of coffee shop for that anyway, judging by the music selection I heard when I was there.
Another thing to note is that the old chairs and desks look cool, but are not all that comfortable to sit in while enjoying coffee or espresso. But it does look really cool.
Despite my complaints, I’m not down on Cult Espresso. I know it caters to a certain crowd of people. The fellows working there were nice and their coffee and cake is good. But for me, I don’t think it would be my first choice if I’m honest. Although, I have told people about it who I know will LOVE Cult Espresso.
Maybe I’ll be back, you never know.

From the baristas to the bathrooms, this place is top. I was overwhelmed by how charming and friendly the servers were. The atmosphere is casual and the music is loud enough to fill the space if you want to study, but quiet enough to still have a conversation.
As far as the coffee and tea goes, they have a good selection and good taste. The lattes are creamy and thoughtfully made without being heavy, and the tea is fresh and warming. Their pastries and cakes are also delicious.
The space itself is well decorated, with brick walls, quirky mismatched furniture, and old-​school industrial lights. I enjoy the space for a friendly coffee, or some light studying. If you’re looking for good coffee and a fun atmosphere, stop by and treat yourself.

I desperately want to give this place 5 stars, but having been twice, the consistency isn’t great.
They have two types on beans in the grinders which seems to be the standard nowadays. They change these up regularly which is always a great reason to return. My piccolo was perfection on my first visit but desperately lacking on my second. The only thing which saved the coffee was the fact it was a really good bean and it was a fairly well pulled shot, if slightly over extracted.
There’s not a lot of seating and the little that there is, consists mostly of old school chair type wooden seats. (Again, seemingly the standard in hipster coffee joints).
It’s not particularly handy for me and the quality isn’t there for me to make the trek especially but I’m happy to pop in if I’m in the area and I’m hoping they will get their consistency sorted and I can give them more stars!

I came to this new location with two Italians this afternoon in pursuit of good coffee. Tucked away in a small storefront on Buccleuch street, one would not expect to find such a spacious café. Inside there is ample seating and personally I am a great fan of places with this minimilist design that is now so typical of the Edinburgh coffee scene. It is hipster to the max, but fortunately the other hipsters in town do not seem to have cottoned on to this yet… It would seem that this is good alternative to the ever-​crowded Brew Lab.
The coffee selection seems to be aimed at purists. Espresso, long black, cappuccino are amongst a few of the brews on offer, everything is quite simple. There were a few cakes on offer, standard options including lemon polenta and brownies. On face value none of them looked particularly enticing but my friends both opted for the brownie. I went for a simple espresso coffee. I always feel slightly sick at the idea of paying £2 for a tiny shot of coffee but it was what I needed after a long and tiring day (in Italy you pay between 80 cents-​1 euro).
The staff seemed friendly, there is a loyalty card and we were able to hang out and chat for a decent amount of time without feeling any pressure to leave. Cult Espresso is not in my part of town but I would come back to try the other coffee options, though for now Machina Espresso is my local and ticks every box, in addition to serving up some fantastic cakes.