Beinn: Dufftown’s Cosy Haven for Coffee and Books

Beinn Coffee and Bookshop is a dream come true for Sam Matthews, who, after falling in love with Dufftown during a holiday, decided to make this beautiful town his home. Moving to Dufftown from London, Sam and his partner Kelly were drawn to the area’s charm and, over time, saw a gap in the local market for an independent bookshop. The idea for Beinn was born out of that observation.

“I was visiting a lot of book shops and I thought ‘This is exactly the sort of business I’d want to run,’” Sam explains. “And if I wasn’t running it, it’s the sort of business I’d want to visit in Dufftown. No-one else was doing it, so I thought we’d give it a go.”

The name “Beinn” was inspired by Ben Rinnes, the mountain that towers over Dufftown. “We moved up here because we loved the hills and wanted to spend more time in them,” Sam shares. “My original idea for the name of the shop was Ben Rinnes Books, but that was too long for the sign. To locals, Ben Rinnes is just ‘The Beinn,’ and given how the whisky mountain towers over Dufftown, we decided Beinn was the perfect name for our coffee and bookshop.”

Inside, Beinn offers a carefully curated selection of around 2,000 books. Sam wanted a shop where everyone could find something to read. “We theoretically should have something for everyone,” Sam says. “Fiction, non-fiction, poetry, biography, fantasy, crime, you name it. We’ve got a little something for everyone.”

The café side of Beinn focuses on high-quality, speciality coffee, sourced from local roasters Conval Coffee Roasters and Lettoch Farm. “We want to offer really high-quality, speciality coffee,” Sam explains. “You should be able to walk in and get a Melbourne-quality flat white, every time.”

Everything about Beinn reflects Sam and his partner’s passion for the local area. From the sustainable sourcing of timber for the countertops to the locally delivered coffee beans, the business is designed to embrace the community and its surroundings. “We’re really fortunate to be working with some fantastic roasters from across the Highlands,” Sam says. “Conval Coffee Roasters, our most local roasters, even walk their coffee deliveries up to us from their roasters in Dufftown in reusable containers for a zero-waste coffee supply!”

The atmosphere of Beinn is welcoming, with a wood burner adding warmth in the cooler months. The shop takes on an even cosier feel in autumn. “I am really looking forward to the autumn season where we can light the wood burner in the bookshop and create a really cosy environment to escape the dreich weather with a coffee and a good book,” he says.

Beinn is a good place to sit with a coffee and browse the books.

“We’ve heard lots of people say they’ll come along on opening day,” says Sam, reflecting on the excitement around the shop. “That helps make it a little less nerve-wracking.”

Beinn Coffee and Bookshop is open daily from 8 am to 4 pm. They also stock our magazine and guidebooks, so you can take a piece of Scotland with you wherever you go.

For more information visit https://www.beinnbooks.co.uk/