Independent coffee & cake in Aberdeen

Aberdeen's independent coffee scene is small but serious, and it has the rare advantage of roasters working right in the granite city. Figment roasts its own beans weekly at its Countesswells Road site in the leafy West End, while MacBeans on Little Belmont Street has been roasting since 1989 and supplies house espresso to cafes like Kilau. Around them sit guest-roaster specialists such as Foodstory on Thistle Street, which pairs a rotating bean list with a scratch bakery and a vegetarian and vegan menu.

The Rosemount and city centre pockets are where most of the cake-and-coffee action lives. The Cult of Coffee on Esslemont Avenue leads with cake under glass domes alongside guest roasts and two daily filters, Fearless Coffee on Rosemount Place was opened by Ukrainian cousins and pours Cairngorm Coffee, and Mount on Upperkirkgate stocks bakes from local bakers including Feingeback. For something sweeter, Almondine on Chapel Street makes handmade French macarons and patisserie, and community cafe Cognito bakes its scones and traybakes fresh each day.