Cafe Musa

Nice café in a lovely location on the Mound. The views from the windows are great, looking over Princes Street and Gardens. The place is quite large inside, with plenty of seating. We chose some comfortable sofas near the entrance.
We each had a latte and a traybake, and everything went down well. The coffee was particularly good– not too strong or bitter. Although the traybake selection was decent, I would like to see more cakes available. Overall, very decent place in an excellent location, with very nice coffee.

yummy food and surprisingly quiet for the location. You have to look for it a bit! We liked it but would not define it ‘special’ or any kind of special interior, if you are looking for that you probably have to go somewhere else, but it was really tasty. Other places were super crowded.

Bright, airy, spacious and very comfortable café with amazing views across Princes Street, Edinburgh’s New Town, the Forth and across to Fife.
Comfy sofas and armchairs with a wi-​fi connection which makes it an ideal place to work and enjoy a great cup of illy coffee or various loose leaf teas.
Wide selection of fresh pastries, Empire biscuits, cold drinks, etc., and a friendly attentive staff. Everything you could possibly want from a city centre café, but with the added attraction of an amazing view from The Mound.
Highly recommended.

Una cafetería muy cerca del Royal Mile, a mitad de camino entre Victoria y Cockburn Street — perfecta para hacer un descanso cuando estás explorando Old Town.
Nosotros nos acercamos al local porque habíamos leído recomendaciones sobre el Afternoon tea for Two — y claro, había que probarlo. En esta cafetería vale 21 libras muy bien invertidas: Dos teteras con los tés que elijas, 3 tipos de sandwichs (con salmón, el obligatorio con pepino, etc.), trozos grandísimos de tarta, fudge y por supuesto scones con clotted cream y mermelada.
Como ya nos habían advertido no pudimos con todo y el camarero directamente nos dijo que había que llevarse todo lo que quedaba :-) (Menuda merienda para el siguiente día).
Tienen muchos tés, café y repostería, pero también alguna sopa y sandwichs.
Perfecto para matar un poco el hambre entre horas o calentarse con una bebida caliente cuando fuera en la calle el tiempo escocés ataca.

I met here with the Buggy Brigade and found it to be very welcoming. The interior is cosy and the owner very friendly.
They have a lovely selection of loose tea and they serve Illy coffee which (apologies to those of you that hate the corporate machine that is) is the next best to Starbucks in my opinion.
There’s a good selection of sandwich’s, panini’s and Jacket potatoes. I was very impressed with the selection of cakes and pastries they have to offer and a number of them caught my eye. The post mummy-​tummy prevents me from diving in to try so I can’t comment on their taste but they won in the looks department.
The toilet/​changing facilities are excellent. Clean and for those of you that forget to bring the wipes & nappy bags now and again like me will be pleased to know that there are some there.
It seems a shame that they are in an excellent spot but have the problem of passing trade to actually notice them despite the 7 boards they have outside!
It’s a lovely venue to meet up with friends (with or without buggies!), the drinks on offer are great and the food that I’ve tried was definitely up to scratch :) Once you know it’s here you’ll be back.

Located on the Mound what a great little coffee shop Café Musa is for morning through early evening chill time with a focus on consuming a selection of tea and coffee, sandwiches, cake and scones. Close enough to other stunning Edinburgh attractions such as The Hub, Castle and Royal Mile and Festival box office. Found a little way from the shops on Princes Street its one fantastic starting point for your day exploring the city.
Open daily after 8am til 6pm, Sat 10am til 6pm, closed on Sundays. they have lots of flavours to try and have nice city views also if you sit at a window seat. Some tables are booked during busy times but if you are a small party then no need to worry as there is ample table space, otherwise book ahead. Café Musa is open a lot later during Edinburgh Festival if I remember right from last year, was still sitting there at midnight!
If you dont believe me then take a look at other Unilocal.Alisa R reckons the tea for two is a grand deal, and Jackie D explored it mid-​way to the Castle, Blythe R mentions it has to be a good neighbour to the variety of competition nearby, while TripAdvisor reviews deem it «perfectly adequate, especially if you manage to combine use of an Itison voucher.»
My take is its got wifi, is not too noisy even during the busy Edinburgh Fringe, has big enough tables to work at, is bright and cool enough not just in a casual hip sort of way but not stuffy with dead air spaces. Their small amount of friendly staff do take the time to know your name, and will fill a thermos of coffee for your needs when they dont really need to. Soup is provided, as is friendly smiles and chat when Edinburgh has its coldest days, cool drinks for children or adults on its warmest.
There is also a kids play area but I’ve never really seen it used, around which are positioned large comfy sofas. Like the tv show Black Books don’t let your children sit on them, they are so large you might loose one down the back?
Café Musa can tailor to most tastes, stocks Illy coffee, soups, are products Gluten free, need to find out on next visit, and their prices are not too damaging to your purse/​wallet.
At just under a tenner will probably get you sandwiches, soup and coffee plus cake (TBC)
If you can have Breakfast at Tiffanys, then why not have lunch at Café Musa?

Great little café, tasty treats to accompany your coffee. Place is a perfect stop while walking up to the castle

Delicious! Wonderful afternoon tea for Two for £21 ! Orange scones, amazing tray bakes and delicious sandwiches! Will come here again for sure.
Lots of tables over looking the Princess street gardens and some cool couches for enjoying some tea and a book on.

Afternoon Tea with Lindsey-​Lee
An actress is probably not the best person to accompany one to afternoon tea. Cakes are probably the nemesis of those in the ‘biz’. But what my friend Lindsey Lee lacks in experienced face-​stuffing she makes up for in entertainment value; I am sure I got an abs workout from laughing so hard.
This was handy and I had ordered ‘The Full Monty’; Afternoon Tea for Two if you please. And at £8.50 a pop it was superb value for money.
The teas are from Love Loose Teas and we sampled Perky Peppermint, Chocolate Peppermint and Ginger. All were stunningly fresh tasting and served in quaint glass pots.
We had chosen teas to aid digestion because the Afternoon Tea is a vertiginous mountain of finger sandwiches, tray bakes, cakes and sweet and savoury scones. The smoked salmon with cream cheese was luscious. The simple addition of dill was a welcome attention to detail that is so complementary you wonder why others don’t follow suit. Egg, chicken and ham sandwiches were equally good and outstanding for their generous fresh and tasty fillings. Lindsay had a savoury cheese scone which she loved despite the fact that she had distractedly spread clotted cream on it!
Up to the second layer of the stand which contained carrot cake, chocolate and beetroot brownie, yoghurt and cranberry tray bake and millionaire shortbread. And yes you heard me correctly we are still only on the second layer! The yoghurt and cranberry slice had a nice crisp base with plenty of fruit, the shortbread was dreamy with soft caramel, the brownie made perfectly moist and dark by the beetroot; a generous slice of carrot cake in no way disappointed.
Our top layer of treats consisted of scones with cream and jam but we had asked for a doggy bag.
This little café is perfectly charming. From the paintings on the walls, the gifts, the display of cakes and treats and the friendly service from Brad, our waiter for the afternoon. Café Musa is perched at the top of the mound but just back from the hubbub. This makes it a peaceful haven although slightly hard to find. It could do with a better sign.

Newly opened on the Mound, just next to the Christian bookshop, Café Musa is a very stylish, airy café, nestled in the heart of Edinburgh’s historic Old Town.
Overall, we said: «Café Musa is well worth a visit. Its smart interior, blending wood with the abundant light that bathed the room, today, is a real winner. It has the feel of a really smart brunch venue. Once people know it’s there, the signage problems I ran into won’t be an issue. What is likely to be a continuing concern is the competition provided by its near neighbours. Our visit to Porto & Fi’s Newhaven branch confirmed it to be a really top-​quality place. Likewise, I think the soup is the Whiski Rooms is just about the best in town. Competition often drives up quality, though, and with abundant tourist custom, there’s reason to be optimistic that these places will all prosper. I hope so, as I think all three offer really good quality.»