First look at Blank Street Coffee as it opens first Scottish branch on historic street

No thanks, it’s great, I say, as I clutch my warm Daydream Matcha - their newest creation with matcha, vanilla, cinnamon and honey - but I appreciate that Llado is keen to make my first visit to this viral chain’s first Scottish branch perfect. I suppose this might be one of their USPs.

“When we think something's important, we don't just do something about it, we go obsessive about it. We want to understand every single detail,” he says. “I think that's the only way to build something that's different”.

Indeed, this chain is adored by Generation Z and has been endorsed by celebrities including Sabrina Carpenter. This pop star even worked a shift in their London store, to promote her song Espresso.

The brand started out in 2020 as a coffee cart in Brooklyn, which was opened by founders Issam Freiha and Vinay Menda, and now has around 40 outlets in New York, and nine across Boston and Washington DC. In the UK, they opened their first in 2022 and there are already 38 across London, Birmingham and Manchester, not including the new Scottish stores.

Our first is opening on January 25, in India Buildings on one of the Capital’s most Instagrammable thoroughfares, Victoria Street, with the Virgin Hotels Edinburgh as a neighbour. To celebrate their arrival, as part of a Blank Street Express Line promotion, they’ll be offering free ‘tickets’ for a Blueberry Matcha or Daydream Latte to commuters on January 25 to 26 at a pop-up tram stop at the intersection of Princes Street and Castle Street.

There’s also a Princes Street location due to open on February 8, and another coming to Glasgow’s Gordon Street. They chose Scotland simply because we asked for it.

“We got so many people reaching out directly to us, especially on Instagram, saying, please come to Edinburgh. We need a Blank Street. And that is the number one driver - people who love us trying to figure out how to get us there,” Llado says. “The second part of that is, okay, we need to go to Scotland to find a perfect location. We don't want to just open with any store, we want to open with an iconic store, and the Victoria Street location is arguably one of the most iconic worldwide”.

When I rock up to the premises, with its signature sage green exterior, there are already a few twentysomethings milling around outside interestedly, two days too early.

I can see why. The branding is very strong. Outside, there’s a gold leaf sign on the window that says ‘embrace the chill’. I’m not sure if that refers to the cold of a Scottish street in January, or the relaxation element of a trip to this place. Maybe both.

Inside, their signature interior is fresh and neutral and, at the front and the back, there are seating areas, with pale walls and curvy chocolate coloured banquettes.

It’s all perfectly neat. No clutter.

“There's a lot of thoughtful curation around everything, from the colour of the cup, to the store design and our campaigns,” says Llado.

It’s much more edited than your average branch of, say, Starbucks or Cafe Nero. Speaking of which, are the old guard of coffee on their way out?

“I don't like speaking about our competition too much. The important thing for us is to be accessible. We make sure that whatever we're doing is new and innovative and special and evolving the brand,” Llado says. “I think there's no doubt that there hasn't been enough innovation by these high street brands”.

In contrast, Blank Street has the razor sharp vision of a relatively new company.

According to Llado, he was just tweaking the speaker placement, and making sure the music is just right in store. On shelves, there is merch - caps, matcha, coffee beans and pin badges.

Also, the baked goods array is the same in every store, though made in a local bakery, with options including pistachio creme cookies, brownies and chocolate banana bread.

Currently, they don’t offer any other food, but that’s something that may be in the pipeline. For now, drinks are king.

Choose coffees, from hot brews to mochas, via cortados and espresso, or go wild with their house lattes, which include honey macadamia and pistachio.

Then there’s the viral matchas, made with ceremonial grade matcha. Their signature is the blueberry matcha, which is a photogenic ombre pink to green drink, but there are also vanilla fudge and white chocolate varieties. Apparently, the youth are switching to this, instead of coffee, because, according to Llado, they prefer the slow release effect of the caffeine that green tea contains.

Blank Street was also originally launched as a business to offer third wave coffee at a lower price point than competitors. They still do that, as a flat white is £3.40, in a city where they’re generally edging up to a fiver.

“We try to make sure it's good value, giving people the highest quality at a good price,” Llado says. “But I think the biggest, biggest difference in what we do is less on the price point, it’s that the quality is incredibly high, and we make that commitment. So we use the best possible ceremonial matcha, the best possible specialty coffee. But at the same time, we try to make things innovative and fun”.

5 India Building, Victoria Street, Edinburgh, www.blankstreet.com