Like no other coffee house

Nestled in a winding Kirkwall street, SunBean Coffee House is like no other coffee house. We are happily small and perfectly formed!

What matters at SunBean is giving our customers an outstanding artisan coffee and loose-leaf tea experience.

We delight in pleasuring our customers' taste buds with our evolving range of Orkney-made speciality cakes, our dairy-free and gluten free brownies and tray bakes, our homemade soup and organic sourdough bread, artisan chocolate bars and healthy tonic drinks.

Many of the drinks, cakes and brownies that we serve are sustainable, non-dairy and ethically-sourced.

We’re open:

• 8-5 Monday to Friday all year
• 9-5 Saturday all year
• 10-4 Sunday (from May 1st-October 1st)

See you soon at SunBean

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SunBean's Mission

Here at SunBean Coffee House we believe in good health, clean living and wellbeing. How do you achieve that with hot drinks?

We have tried to source the best tasting products with natural, ideally organic recipes from the most ethically sound suppliers we can find. We maintain this approach for all new products over time.

We confirm that their production process is as environmentally responsible as possible. If Orkney produce of the same type is available, we will always stock it. We also try and ensure our stock deliveries are environmentally responsible.

Good examples of this are Ombar Chocolate, Hasbean Coffee, and Eteaket teas.

These suppliers deliver our orders with organic packaging, usually variations of cardboard. In Ombar's case the packaging is cleverly designed and doubles as the display cartons and all the wrappings are biodegradable. They are a great company.

Hasbean Coffee use original Hessian coffee bean sacks as packaging, which is great and our collection of these iconic sacks grows!

One supplier delivers using plastic bottles and that is currently unavoidable.

Our takeaway containers are all biodegradable. Our takeaway boxes and cutlery are made from compressed leaves and cellulose. No plastic products leave this shop with our customers.

Waste management is similar. We sort according to recyclables and organics. Organics are taken to Simon’s home to his own compost and we take the recycling direct to the council depots. The remainder of general rubbish is also taken by hand to the local depots but this is usually less than one small bag of rubbish per week. Our rubbish bags are made from biodegradable plastic.

We have done all of this from day one. It is all entirely normal and here at SunBean we wouldn’t ever consider any alternative. To keep our environmental footprint as small as possible is not a policy, rather a way of life.

When you visit us at SunBean you are guaranteed high quality products. But you are also guaranteed the lowest possible environmental cost as well.

We do this not to proselytise or to preach any message. We do this because these are the best tasting and most appropriate products for us to sell. It just so happens that Ombar make great tasting chocolate, and Alchemy make wonderful elixirs. All we did was the tasting.

So here at SunBean you can drink a delicious hot drink, eat a wonderful brownie or bar of chocolate and leave knowing you have made a positive contribution to a more caring world and a positive contribution to your tummy.

Artisan Coffee by fine producers and roasters

We love beans. It’s our passion. We want to provide the highest quality taste and flavour.

The roasting process is important, but artisan starts way before that. To be ‘artisan’ we are looking for the following: the type of beans the farmer grows; the conditions that the beans grow in; the ethical aspects of the production process (e.g. fairtrade); and the harvesting practices that are used.

We cannot police these aspects of our suppliers, but we have looked for businesses who have a similar view to our own where ethical and environmental trading are an important part of their ethos.

At SunBean, our house blend is supplied by Edinburgh Tea and Coffee Co.

Chimera aka Continental Medium is a bittersweet espresso blend of Arabica and Robusta coffee from Brazil, Honduras and Vietnam with a little fruity overtone.

It has been developed over the past two decades by the Edinburgh Tea and Coffee Company to mirror a traditional Northern Italian espresso.

A selection of Italian visitors to SunBean over the years have confirmed this to be the case with great joy. It is a mature blend which excels with steamed milk, never being overwhelmed and always giving flavour and bite. A top barista coffee.

Our guest coffees are supplied by Hasbean, probably the most successful independent coffee importer in the U.K.

At the time of writing this guest brew is Finca La Fany - El Salvador by Hasbean - like most of our choices from Hasbean, this is a single source bean. Try a cup or take home a 250gm pack at SunBean.

Finca La Fany - El Salvador by Hasbean - is a guest single source bean. Try a cup at SunBean or take home a pack.

Taste: this delicious honey-processed bean offers slightly more body and slightly less fruit as the flavour shifts towards caramel, chocolate and nutty flavours.

The farm is part of the Mesoamerican Biological Corridor System that stretches all the way from Mexico down to Panama. When this network of ‘protected highways’ enters El Salvador, it passes through the shade grown coffee regions, which act as a ‘substitute forest’.

For this reason, coffee farms in this area play a vital role as a sanctuary for most of the 520 migratory and native bird species found in this part of the world.

Usually the Hasbeen coffees are more delicate in flavour than the beefy Chimera roast. Arabica beans with more subtlety and tones than our house brew but best tasted black.

We also stock some genuine rocket fuel!

Warning: extremely strong coffee!

Sons of Amazon is 200% stronger than a cup of normal jar coffee! It’s for Adrenalin and coffee junkies only and not for the faint hearted.

A 500g pack makes approx 55 cups of strong coffee. Pick-up a pack to take home.

Get the UK’s strongest coffee - Sons of Amazon - which is now available at SunBean.

Strong and fair: It’s roasted using the world’s premium and best coffee beans, which are ethically sourced directly from the Amazon Rainforest, then roasted and ground in the UK.

We don’t generally serve this in the shop but during the busy summer season the odd pack may appear in our guest grinder.

Choose from 11 fine loose-leaf teas

We have 11 different types of loose-leaf tea at SunBean including speciality teas by eteaket Leaf Tea Experts and Edinburgh Tea & Coffee Co.

SunBean stocks a selection of quality, ethically sourced loose-leaf tea from eteaket. eteaket fine leaf traditional and aromatic tea can be enjoyed at SunBean, or purchase a pack to take home.

From eteaket, choose from Isle of Harris Gin Tea, Breakfast Blend, Sea Buckthorn (fruit), Redbush or Bollywood Dreams Chai.

We get our house mint and black teas from from the Edinburgh Tea & Coffee Co.

Supporting Orkney and Scottish producers

We try to source (where possible) SunBean's food and drink comes from Orkney and Scottish producers. Buying in this way means that we are contributing to supporting local and Scottish economies and employment.

Our intent is to buy locally and prioritise waste reduction, ensuring wrappers and packaging are kept to a minimum, which means less use of natural resources and results in less landfill.

Local produce doesn’t need to travel as far ensuring that ‘food miles’ are kept to a minimum, reducing the amount of food miles.

Main photo: Sourdough bread made by The Orkney Sourdough Co.

Vegan and non-dairy tray bakes

SunBean Coffee stocks brownies and vegan oat bars made by the independent Edinburgh based company, The Herbivore Kitchen.

The base recipe for Herbivore Kitchen brownies is nut, wheat, vegan and dairy free, making them suitable for most dietary requirements.

We’ve also stock The Herbivore Kitchen vegan and dairy-free vegan oat bars at SunBean. Our vegan oat bars are covered in vegan chocolate and they’re packed full of goodness.

Main picture: vegan oat bars by Herbivore Kitchen

Soup and Sourdough

We serve freshly-made homemade soup and sourdough at SunBean.

We offer vegetarian soups daily. Enjoy a generous portion of soup with a thick slice of organic sourdough bread.

Our soups are always vegetarian, often vegan and made locally by near neighbours. Traditional varieties are mixed with more exotic variations but they are always hearty and tasty. We always offer generous portions.

Made in Orkney, our soup is packed full of goodness in every spoonful.

Available to eat-in or take-away

Take home classic hot chocolate by the Real Hot Chocolate Company

Have you tried The Real Hot Chocolate Company’s Classic Hot Chocolate, now available at SunBean Coffee House? We stock Five delicious types including the Mocha mix.

It has wonderful flavour profile that is both packed with body, and yet is balanced and very drinkable. The choice of chocolate and the way it is blended with unrefined sugar, cocoa powder and vanilla makes this one of the most delicious drinking chocolates available, and it’s vegan. No dairy products are used in its creation so you can have an entirely dairy free hot chocolate at SunBean if that’s what you are looking for.

It’s made using rare Criollo-Trinitario chocolate from Madagascar's Sambirano rainforest and is the best tasting barista style hot chocolate we have found. Get yours to take home at SunBean Coffee House.

Alternatives

Alchemy’s Golden Turmeric Elixir is a healthy and delicious alternative to caffeine based hot drinks.

Alchemy’s Golden Turmeric Elixir is caffeine free, gluten free, dairy free, vegan friendly with NO artificial colours or flavours.

Golden Turmeric Elixir is bursting with flavour and goodness. A blend of turmeric, ginger, black pepper, cinnamon, and organic vanilla. It is easy to use, and utterly delicious both hot and cold.

Enjoy a cup of Golden Turmeric Elixir at SunBean with your favourite dairy milk or non-dairy milk such as coconut, soya, oat or almond. This is an increasingly popular choice.

Alchemy Cordial Company Maho (magic) Matcha Elixir is just as it's name states: magic - it blends a Japanese matcha with organic vanilla, cardamom and ginger - giving it just a hint of sweetness and the perfect balance of flavours.

Matcha comes from Japan, where it has been grown for centuries and forms part of the traditional Japanese tea ceremony.

Matcha, like other green teas, contains antioxidants, so it's likely to have the same benefits as green tea. It has become swept up in the Superfood hype recently but it remains a powerful and healthy alternative choice.

Alchemy Energy Chai Elixir - ‘Chai of the Tiger,’ is made with the distinctive fragrance of star anise, ginger, black pepper, cinnamon and cardamom.

It contains organic black tea, with added guarana and ginseng for energy, clarity and focus.

Enjoy a cup of Energy Chai Elixir at SunBean with your favourite dairy milk or non-dairy milk such as coconut, soya, oat or almond.

Dogs Welcome

Well behaved dogs are welcome at SunBean.

Why not call into SunBean with your dog while you enjoy your favourite loose-leaf tea or freshly ground coffee. Water is provided FOC! for our thirsty four legged friends.

Putting the Sun 🌞 in Sunbean.

Don’t forget our classic 48 tube Tan stand is here for winter blues relief and Vitamin D booster, or just a bonnie Tan! 10 minutes for £4, a range of pricing options are available.