Coffee With a Bookseller at Topping Edinburgh

Clare and I went to Edinburgh last month for a witchy workshop, but while we were there, we decided to try out Topping’s Coffee With a Bookseller. I had never heard of it until Clare told me, but the premise is that you buy a voucher, email them to make an appointment and then the value of your voucher is redeemable against any books you’d like to buy. You also have to let Topping know the kinds of books you like, dislike and anything in particular you’d like recommendations for.

I can’t remember exactly what I said to Topping’s in my email, but it was something like “I love Coco Mellors, Sally Rooney and David Sedaris.” All of this is true, but I can never think of favourites off of the top of my head, so I wasn’t sure I’d given the best portrait of my reading habits, which are pretty open, save for the fact that I never seem to pick up books by straight men. Either way, I was excited as Clare and I trotted off for our date.

When we walked in, I was so impressed by the beauty of the bookshop. They’ve got a really thoughtfully curated space, with a cool area for first editions of all kinds. We were sent upstairs to meet Zain for our coffee, and were greeted by a lovely and friendly bookseller who took our hot drinks orders and sat us down at a wee table with two stacks of books. While we waited for Zain to return, we had a lot of fun guessing which stack was for me, and which was for Clare.

We correctly guessed that Clare’s stack was on the left, with mine on the right, and spent the next hour or so having the most gorgeous conversation with Zain while he ran through why he'd thought the books he’d picked would work for us. It was a testament to how good he is at his job that he picked books for both of us that we’d already read and loved. Of course, we’d said when we were walking in that we weren’t going to spend more than we needed to, but we both had our £60 voucher to burn through. I may have purchased more than I planned to, but I regret nothing.

I’m currently reading The Lonely City by Olivia Laing, and I’m really enjoying it, despite the fact that I’ve read very little in November. If you want to give yourself a little treat, or get a thoughtful gift for the bookworm in your life, I’d really recommend this. It felt like such a lovely and personal experience, and the staff in Topping are clearly really passionate about what they do. They have branches in Bath, Ely, Edinburgh and St Andrew’s. If you end up giving it a try, let me know.