Birch

Birch is a speciality coffee shop and eatery on Bayfield Road in Portree, set up in 2020 by Niall Munro, a Skye local inspired by trips to Melbourne and its café style. The idea was to bring that approach home using produce from the Scottish Highlands and Islands, and a roastery followed in 2021. Coffee is traceable to the grower and hand roasted in small batches on a Loring S7 roaster, with filter coffee poured every day.

The room is pale wood and pared back, with a window seat that fills early and a counter of pastries and cakes. A small kitchen cooks brunch that changes with the seasons, and there are herbal teas, freshly squeezed orange juice and handmade ceramic mugs by Cara Guthrie, which are also sold in the shop. Birch has a second shop in Inverness.