The 10 best afternoon teas in Edinburgh

Scotland and tea have been in a relationship since the 1600s, with the first tea served at Holyrood Palace in 1680. Originally smuggled into the country and affordable only for the very rich, by the mid-1800s tea was regularly taken with bread and butter in the afternoon and the rest is history: a saga of sandwiches, scones, cakes, cream and latterly, champagne. Afternoon tea has never been more popular and (Dundee cake notwithstanding) nowhere in Scotland does it better than enlightened Edinburgh. After all, where else would you find tea served in a library, greenhouse, luxury lighthouse ship and a vintage bus, all in the same city?

For further Edinburgh inspiration, see our guides to the city’s best hotels, restaurants and cafes, nightlife, pubs and bars, shopping, things to do and things to do for free. 

• Princes Street
• The Old Town
• The New Town
• Leith
• The Southside

Fantastically popular with both locals and visitors, this Charles Rennie-Macintosh inspired enterprise has the master’s chairs, china and ornamental screens as well as very pretty original art deco windows overlooking the Princes Street gardens and the castle above. It’s busy and noisy, with efficient staff whizzing round as if on roller skates delivering a generously portioned, traditional tea: think egg sandwiches, a squat but tender scone, the shortest shortbread imaginable, hefty slices of carrot cake or towering strawberry tarts. There’s a savoury version too (haggis on oatcakes and mini cheese and tomato tarts). All at a very reasonable price. 

Contact: willowtearooms.co.uk
Reservations: recommended
Prices: £

Imagine you have died and gone to heaven – after all, there is a harp playing. And dreamy hand-painted bucolic scenes on the walls, with palm trees, of course. Consider a delicate sip of vichyssoise to start, then zhuzhed-up savouries (beetroot vol-au-vent, wasabi caviar), sandwiches with a dainty twist (smoked salmon and mascarpone), clotted cream and Balmoral jam with your scones, and the daintiest pastries imaginable. Proust would swoon at the apricot, lemon and white chocolate madeleines. All that, a choice of 88 teas and impeccable service. Spring for the champagne version and you may well believe you’re in paradise.

Contact: roccofortehotels.com
Reservations: recommended
Prices: £££

Named not for the owner but the “Fair Empress of the Poet’s Soul” in Burns’ eponymous poem, there’s evidence that doilies are not dead all around you, along with rose-patterned wallpaper, lace tablecloths and flowery, gilt-edged china in this tiny tea shop/time warp on the Canongate. It’s easy to imagine Miss Marple tucking into a scone with seeded raspberry jam, blushing as she surreptitiously samples a chocolate kiss. But the real star is a savoury cheese and chive scone with plum chutney – not surprising as they have been making scones here for 50 years or so. 

Contact: clarindastearoom.com
Reservations: walk-in only
Prices: ££

You may be in a library but that doesn’t mean you have to whisper. Next to St Giles off the Royal Mile this elegant Georgian room is the home of an ancient society of lawyers who served the king. Tables are spread out beneath the gallery between rows of legal tomes and down the central aisle. Heavy silver glistens and glitters; the food is exceptional. Start with eight light savouries, including a caprese tartlet and rich duck and pomme duchess; then five examples of serious patisserie: a creamy strawberry Frasier or coconut mango tart. And a scone, of course. 

Contact: thesignetlibrary.co.uk/colonnades
Reservations: recommended
Prices: £££

A grand, classical building, originally a bank, now an elegant bar and restaurant with a velvet-draped, chandelier-lit tea room upstairs. There you will find a surprisingly hefty afternoon tea starting with sausage rolls and ending with a selection of sweets, including an ethereally light elderflower and lemon choux bun, with sandwiches and scones in between. Tipsy tea, too: three matched cocktails, the “Just Peachy”: gin, earl grey tea, peach and basil shrub and lemon. Non-gluten and vegan versions are available as well as a children’s tea. Come for the fabulous Christmas decorations but be sure to book.

Contact: thedomeedinburgh.com
Reservations: recommended
Prices: ££

Take a 1975 Routemaster bus with no suspension and a delightfully attentive crew who could carry a drink in a rowboat at sea in a hurricane and not spill it. The tables are set for fun in a swaying, bumpy circuit round the sites of central Edinburgh, bolstered by sandwiches, tiny savoury tarts and meringues, cream cakes, a glass of prosecco and heavenly hot scones too, somehow baked on the bus. Add on a gin “pot-tail”: a choice of cocktails served in a transparent glass teapot, stuffed with flowers and mint. Not gourmet perhaps, but worth every penny in laughs. 

Contact: redbusbistro.co.uk
Reservations: recommended
Prices: ££

A Northern Lighthouse ship exquisitely converted to luxury hotel is an unusual yet glamorous setting for an indulgent afternoon tea that’s particularly good on the savoury side. A demitasse cup of intensely fragrant silken soup is an appetite-sharpening amuse-bouche, followed by a novel hot-smoked salmon and crowdie clafoutis keeping company with a goat’s cheese tart, saffron and parmesan arancini and light-as-air rare-breed sausage roll. Then sandwiches, of course and sweet things: yuzu and matcha macaron, apricot and ginger cheesecake, a strawberry sablé and Tanzanian chocolate meringue. With all that and champagne you may need a hand on the gangplank.

Contact: fingal.co.uk/food-drink/afternoon-tea/ 
Reservations: essential
Prices: £££

Easily spotted by the zebra-striped awnings visiting Mimi’s is like stepping into a pastel-coloured Disney film: one expects Mary Poppins to appear in a starched white apron. Dedicated to cake (there’s all day brunch, but really you’re here for the sweet stuff), much is strictly traditional: filled rolls and scones with clotted cream. But the stars are the traybakes and mini-cakes, like Biscoff brownies that can make strong men weak, or a Jammy Dodger traybake for the nostalgic. Can’t wait for the afternoon? Mimi’s serves “Beforenoon Tea,” too, with banoffee yoghurt, cheddar scones, a mini breakfast roll, shakshuka… and cakes, of course. 

Contact: mimisbakehouse.com
Reservations: Recommended
Prices: £

Opulent, outrageous, romantic, theatrical – adjectives fail when trying to describe this extraordinary hotel set in beautiful grounds at the foot of Arthur’s Seat. There’s a setting for every time of year, whether you’re outside on the terrace, by the fireside in the Tapestry Room or in the Gothic tea house hidden in the rose garden. Your tea will have an element of theatre too, served in the fantastically heavy silver teapots and always with a seasonal theme embellished with wit: spring brings an edible flower pot (with wild garlic hummus forming the soil) and a lavender honey mousse and apricot “bumblebee”. 

Contact: prestonfield.com
Reservations: recommended
Prices: £££

Imagine escaping to a herb and flower-filled greenhouse where vine trees twine overhead and tables hide in green bowers. There are chunky sandwiches (smoked salmon, ham, hummus), a flaky savoury pastry, scones and a selection of tiny treats: a fudge choux bun, intensely chocolatey roulade, a macaron – all home-baked and served on your grandmother’s rosebud china. Absolutely try the lemon verbena or apothecary rose tea, grown in the enchanting rose and peony-filled garden. And check out the distillery to sample gins flavoured using only the garden’s herbs and petals. With no chemical fertilisers or insecticides it’s delicious and guilt-free.

Contact: secretherbgarden-cafebistro.co.uk
Reservations: recommended
Prices: £

Every restaurant in this curated list has been tried and tested by our destination expert, who has visited to provide you with their insider perspective. We cover a range of budgets, from neighbourhood favourites to Michelin-starred restaurants – to best suit every type of traveller’s taste – and consider the food, service, best tables, atmosphere and price in our recommendations. We update this list regularly to keep up with the latest opening and provide up to date recommendations.