Edinburgh coffee talk

When I was in high school, I commuted for over an hour and a half down to Leith each morning; as a 16-year-old, this wasn’t the greatest experience—early mornings followed by long days. One morning, on my way into school, I noticed a new bakery opening up right next to my bus stop for my bus home. Walking past one morning, I smelled pure joy and decided that after the school day, I’d pop in. While waiting for my bus after a long day, I decided to take a gander; the cakes on display in the window looked scintillating—giant bakery creations filled with everything you could imagine from Kinder Bueno, peanut butter, Oreo, and so much more. I popped in, got my cake, and jumped on the bus. From the first bite, I was in love, going back the next day to get my family one of these marvellous creations each; KREMA became my go-to cheat day location. Years later, while starting this blog, I knew I’d have to write about this bakery. Because it holds a special place in my heart, I wanted to make this blog post special, so I messaged ahead, wondering if I could get an interview with the owner, Theo. After a lovely visit, a fantastic chat, and some quality cake and coffee, I got everything I needed to give the bakery the detailed post it deserved. So let’s talk about KREMA bakehouse.

Located at the bottom of Leith Walk, the location is perfect for you Leithers. The shop’s large glass window has a selection of their baked goods on display, accompanied by the fantastic smell coming from the shop; it’s hard to resist popping in while walking by. Walking in, you are met with a glass counter with even more items on display, as well as a firsthand look at the goods in the window. They also have various glass displays with more cakes, pies, cookies, and pretty much anything sweet you can think of. In the background of the shop, you can see where the magic happens; pretty much their whole bakery is on display, offering a very unique look into how they operate. They have limited seating available with two tables located just out the front.

Now onto my chat with the owner: Theo (full name Theodoris) opened the bakery in March of 2022. He has been in Edinburgh for twelve and a half years, and as well as owning the bakery, he is also a personal trainer. Coming from Greece, he had another shop with his family and was inspired to open KREMA after he couldn’t find somewhere in Edinburgh that hit his taste buds. He came up with the idea around COVID, and once everything started opening up, he decided to make his move, seeing the location at the bottom of Leith, with the big windows and high ceiling, he said he told his agent, “I don’t know what it’s going to take, just get me that shop,” telling me he could already “envision how it would look” as soon as he saw the location. Like every local business, it’s had its difficulties while opening, most notably the construction of the trams on Leith Walk. With large noises coming from the construction and gates hiding the location, the business felt an effect. They also make wedding cakes and do wholesale, and he told me one difficulty was getting taxis/transportation for their goods because the construction blocked off most of the area. Another difficulty for them was the lingering effects from lockdown, with him telling me the reason the shop doesn’t have indoor seating was the fear of another lockdown or a need for social distancing. But now the shop has developed on from these difficulties, with the tram works complete, they now have seating available outdoors, and no indoor seating almost adds to the location as they have such a unique look with the bakery on display. For the future, Theo told me he looks to expand on the wholesale/wedding cakes the shop offers, but also if all goes well, they are looking into the possibility of opening a second location somewhere in Edinburgh.

The bestsellers at the shop are their selections of buns they offer, but also Theo’s personal favourite item, their orange pies. A traditional Greek pie, he uses his mother’s recipe to bring a unique taste of Greece to Leith. I decided to grab a slice of the orange pie, a vegan peanut butter and jam brownie, and to drink a cortado.

The orange pie recommended to me by Theo was amazing; his traditional family recipe is something to cherish. I’m not the biggest fan of orange or any fruit-style pastries or cakes, but I still loved the pie. It has a very unique texture, soft and sticky, extremely sweet with a fantastic orange tang; it’s like nothing I’ve tried before. Although I have never had an orange pie before, I have had plenty of brownies in my time, but it doesn’t get much better than a KREMA brownie. Topped with a thick layer of peanut butter with jam in the centre and a gooey chocolate brownie base, it was absolutely amazing, and it was vegan! I’m not vegan myself, but the only thing different about this brownie compared to the many non-vegan ones I have had was that it was one of the best gooey brownies I have ever had the pleasure of tasting. The coffee was also great; it was everything you could ask for when it comes to a basic coffee, the size was perfect with great milk, and their espresso is strong but suits the milk, creating a standout coffee. The serving sizes were massive, i got the two cakes and coffee for just over £13 a more than fair price and a great value for money.

Theo told me the meaning behind the name KREMA, meaning cream in Greek; the detached part of the R in their logo, if removed, creates the spelling of cream in Greek, so when opening, both his Greek and local customers could understand the meaning of the name. He also told me that while planning the shop, he kept a notebook on him at all times for whenever he came up with an idea for a name, eventually having his KREMA idea late one night while in bed, showing his passion for the business and his customers.

When talking to Theo, he told me something that was really seen (and tasted) during my visit: “this is my baby.” From their cakes to their coffee, you can tell the level of passion and love that goes into their operation. If you are a local, I can’t see a reason why you wouldn’t visit. Their cakes and hospitality are amazing, with a more than fair price range, but I wouldn’t just recommend this place to locals in Leith; if you’re visiting Edinburgh, I would call this a must-go. They have something for everyone, and if you are visiting from out of Edinburgh, it’s perfectly located to go to while taking a walk down or up Leith Walk.

A big thanks to the KREMA team and Theo for his hospitality, taking time out of his busy schedule to give me an interview and answer all my questions. Make sure to check out KREMA at the bottom of Leith Walk, and if you are interested in reading about more coffee shops and bakeries, check out more from our blog! Thanks for reading.