{"id":883410,"date":"2026-04-09T23:23:21","date_gmt":"2026-04-09T23:23:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/883410\/"},"modified":"2026-04-09T23:23:21","modified_gmt":"2026-04-09T23:23:21","slug":"the-trio-of-edinburgh-based-roasters-hoping-to-shake-up-the-coffee-scene","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/883410\/","title":{"rendered":"The trio of Edinburgh-based roasters hoping to shake up the coffee scene"},"content":{"rendered":"

A TRIO\u00a0of Edinburgh-based coffee roasters and retailers are hoping to shake up the capital\u2019s coffee scene<\/a> with the new brick-and-mortar enterprise.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Carter Coffee<\/a>,\u00a0offering\u00a0distinctive, specialist\u00a0blends\u00a0will have\u00a0a soft launch on Friday in Bonnington<\/a>, Edinburgh, offering\u00a0\u00a31\u00a0coffees\u00a0for the morning.\u00a0<\/p>\n

On Monday, they will\u00a0proceed\u00a0into a\u00a0six-week\u00a0work in progress period, where the shop will be takeaway only, but\u00a0they hope to have their location at\u00a04\u00a0Fyfe Lane\u00a0full kitted out with tables and chairs after this.<\/p>\n

Sorley Richardson, Danny Allan, and Craig Paul\u00a0became friends\u00a0through\u00a0work years ago and\u00a0will now bring their unique blends\u00a0to\u00a0Bonnington<\/a>, a residential and commercial hub North of Leith Walk<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"(Left(Left to right) Craig Paul, Sorley Richardson, and Danny Allan<\/p>\n

Their firm, for more than a year now, has produced blends\u00a0for retail and wholesale,\u00a0blending coffees from disparate parts of the world\u00a0to create unique flavours and\u00a0aromas.\u00a0<\/p>\n

For example, Danny, who hails from Australia, was inspired by\u00a0Pineapple Lumps \u2013 a famous New Zeeland delicacy consisting of lumps of pineapple covered by a layer of chocolate \u2013 while travelling in Wellington.\u00a0<\/p>\n

His colleague,\u00a0Sorley,\u00a0described the process of\u00a0attempting\u00a0to recreate the striking flavour of the confection\u00a0in a coffee:\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cDanny came across this coffee,\u00a0co-fermented with pineapples, from Colombia, and he thought, if we mix this really fruit forward, experimental coffee,\u00a0that almost had this lactic pineapple quality,\u00a0with a coffee that\u2019s quite chocolatey, like a Brazil, then maybe we could recreate that same\u00a0flavour\u00a0profile.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u00a0represents what we want to do, that intelligent blending,\u00a0creating a taste that\u00a0goes beyond\u00a0just\u00a0the coffee.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Their bread and butter, every day coffee is similarly made up of different origins, providing an accessible but still\u00a0flavourful\u00a0profile.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Sorley continued: \u201cour entry-level,\u00a0high volume\u00a0coffee is called bread and butter.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s\u00a0a coffee-coffee, very chocolatey,\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0got, nice stone fruit, and\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0got a sort of buttery texture as well.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s a seasonal blend, so the components will rotate, as the seasons change.\u00a0Rright\u00a0now,\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0got natural Brazil, washed\u00a0Ethiopia\u00a0and washed Uganda.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll start to see that change, but\u00a0largely the\u00a0profile will stay the same.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Sorley and Danny also discussed their desire to strip away some of the prestige of specialty coffee.\u00a0<\/p>\n

They see their blends as a means of doing just that, as well as expressing their playfulness as roasters and\u00a0placing\u00a0own mark on the coffee they produce.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Danny described their approach: \u201cSpecialty coffee has kind of a prestige attached to it, so we\u00a0kind of want\u00a0to unpack that and appeal to everyone from the entry level coffee drinker all the way up and to the\u00a0high-end\u00a0specialty drinker.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cBlending\u00a0kind of gives\u00a0us the ability to\u00a0capture\u00a0the full spectrum of the coffee consumer.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

He added:\u00a0\u201cI think\u00a0there\u2019s this\u00a0misnomer\u00a0that\u00a0single origin is best,\u00a0but we believe in\u00a0flavour\u00a0first,\u00a0whether we create something from all these awesome products, and join them together and like use our expertise to do that, or we celebrate one\u00a0single\u00a0producer.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Danny and Sorley worked together\u00a0for five years\u00a0at Obadiah Coffee, and co-founded the new venture together, bringing Craig on board around a year ago.\u00a0<\/p>\n

They\u2019re\u00a0confident about the new\u00a0cafe, having received positive feedback on their socials.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Sorley added: \u201cI think having our\u00a0personalities\u00a0shine through is a big thing, and when it comes down to coffee as well, something we bonded over was\u00a0flavours.\u00a0We\u2019re\u00a0both big foodies and\u00a0we\u2019re\u00a0into the sensory aspect.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cSomething that kind of got us on the same page was,\u00a0\u2018if it tastes good, do it\u2019.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a lot in the\u00a0coffee industry about terroir and\u00a0provenance and\u00a0putting the producer first.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u00a0champion the producer for sure, but\u00a0there\u00a0should be\u00a0a space to blend coffees\u00a0\u2013\u00a0that\u2019s\u00a0typically a little bit unpopular\u00a0though.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cBut we thought it was\u00a0really interesting to roast\u00a0and\u00a0to bring out\u00a0flavours\u00a0that we really like, but also blend in an intelligent way, which we don\u2019t see loads of people doing\u00a0\u2013 it\u2019s very much single-origin led in the industry.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

They also expressed their excitement about combining their sales operation \u2013 shipping coffee domestically and internationally to retailers and consumers\u00a0\u2013 and production with a cafe and retail\u00a0space.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Danny explained:\u00a0Originally\u00a0it was going to be just a retail front \u2013 there was always a vision of wanting to see through into the production space and have that community connect with the product a little more closely, because not a lot of people do that.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cBut his space came up, and we thought it was a perfect spot for a\u00a0\u2013\u00a0hopefully\u00a0\u2013\u00a0high-volume Cafe mixed with retail\u00a0to\u00a0connect with all the\u00a0residents in the in the buildings\u00a0around us.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Bonnington seemed like an ideal location in part because of what the area lacks.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Sorley said: \u201cCoffee-wise,\u00a0what\u2019s\u00a0around here?\u00a0There\u2019s\u00a0the Pastry Section, and\u00a0Ardfern, but not much else.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWith all these flats shooting up and filling up quick,\u00a0offices, and even more\u00a0housing going up down the road,\u00a0maybe this\u00a0is\u00a0where\u00a0the next\u00a0busy spot is.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

A small kitchen in the back of the coffee shop will provide food when the cafe is fully operational.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Carter Coffee will open at 4 Fyfe Lane for the soft launch tomorrow from 7am to 12pm and reopen\u00a0for takeaways only from Monday next week.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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