Typified by the now ubiquitous flat white, such ‘specialty’ or ‘artisan’ coffee places have become one of the most identifiable manifestations of urban change and gentrification. Leith is home to a number of Edinburgh’s most renowned coffee spots, Including Artisan Roast, Williams & Johnson, and Little Fitzroy. Is there no end to it?

Growing costs

One thing that might put a break on this seemingly inexorable growth is cost. £3.64 is currently the average price for espresso-based drinks in the UK. With the price of beans on the rise, the four quid flat white is coming…soon. However, despite the price of coffee rising, we are buying more of it! According to Allegra World Coffee Portal’s report, more than 6 billion pounds was spent in UK coffee shops in 2024. More than 500 coffee shops opened in the UK last year and it is predicted another 2000 will open by 2030! Clearly we are nowhere near ‘peak coffee’!

Social polarisation?

The arrival of new ‘posh’ coffee places doesn’t meet with universal approval. This new coffee culture is embraced by many as something bold and innovative, manifesting creative re-use and enriching the hospitality scene. For others, it’s about what’s been lost and how it’s been replaced. The divergent reactions are a microcosm of wider disputes about our changing city, feeding into a sense of social polarisation.

When entering places such as Kul Coffee, there’s little doubt that the customers represent a specific slice of Edinburgh. Kul’s motto is ‘Where Coffee Brews Community’. However, I’m not sure that all those who live in the area would feel comfortable in such a cool, ultra-minimalist place. It’s as if an invisible force field exists around such places, keeping out certain groups.

Kul’s customers are younger than average. This is characteristic of specialist coffee places, often full of students and Gen Z ‘knowledge workers’, able to take their slim laptops anywhere, as they work in a hybrid or remote fashion. This has led specialty coffee into the crosshairs of populist commentators who see it as emblematic of the metropolitan liberal elite that, they argue, dominates the culture.

Cultural erasure?

Some of the disquiet raised online about posh coffee connects to wider concerns about the changing character of the city. The political scientists Pippa Norris and Ronald Inglehart have, in books such as Cultural Backlash, talked about the discombobulating character of rapid social and cultural change.

As Norris put it, ‘many people felt that the things which they took for granted, the things which they regarded as important for themselves in their community and their country, those things were being lost.’ Some see the closure of much loved shops, pubs and greasy spoons as evidence of a form of cultural erasure. However true this may or may not be, it is certainly widely felt.

Gone too far?

One consistent theme in the online reaction to new coffee places opening up is that Edinburgh surely already has enough ‘overpriced coffee shops.’ As noted, there are far more places to get coffee than in the past, ranging from greasy spoons (a declining number), the ‘multi-unit operators’ (the chains), and independents. Have things gone too far?

The argument that we have too many cafes overlooks that the vast majority I visit or pass are busy. As an illustration, the first day I sauntered in Kul Coffee I was struck by the noise; the place was heaving! What drew me in was the abundant sense of energy and the airy spaciousness of the place, but I had to settle for a takeaway (a delicious Columbian, complex and fruity). Only on my third visit, did I get a seat. Peak posh coffee is clearly some way off.

Recurrent themes

Specialty coffee is a marker of social change. Concerns about too many coffee shops rank just below ‘yet more student housing’ and potholes among the recurrent themes in online ‘discourse’ about the city. The city is, some feel, increasingly dominated by ‘student accommodation, hotels, residential areas for rich people and coffees shops’.

This feeds into the sense of the city changing its character, no longer focused on its long-term residents. Coffee is clearly fuelling much more than just our working days. This includes inciting some of the rancorous debate about the future of the city.

Pippa Norris and Ronald Inglehart’s book Cultural Backlash is available from Cambridge Press £28