Hinba Coffee Roasters

Hinba occupies 62 George Street, on Oban's main street facing the bay and a few minutes' walk from the CalMac terminal. It opens 8am to 5pm, seven days a week, and serves a good share of travellers heading for the Mull and Islay sailings, many of whom leave with a bag of beans alongside the coffee.

Everything served is single origin, with a selection that rotates through the seasons, so the roast on the grinder changes month to month. Espresso and filter are both on the menu, alongside fresh pastries and a small counter of sweet and savoury options. Retail bags of the current roasts sit on the shelves with brewing equipment for making the same cup at home. The café itself is compact, with limited tables inside and a few seats out front, and it gets busy around ferry departures before quietening in the late afternoon.

The company began in 2019 on the Isle of Seil, the small island half an hour south of Oban that has been connected to the mainland since 1792 by the humpbacked Clachan Bridge, known as the Bridge over the Atlantic. Its founders returned to the west coast after years working abroad and set up their roastery on the island, an unusual address for one. The name refers to the lost island of St Columba, the site of a sixth-century monastery that scholars have never managed to place. One theory locates it at Seil.

Hinba has since grown into several Glasgow coffee shops, a bakery and a restaurant, and in 2026 the roastery moved to Glasgow to keep pace with demand. The George Street café remains the closest shop to where the company started, and the natural first stop for anyone tracing it back.