Independent coffee specialists, Brew Lab are extending their café opening hours with an aim to change the country's drinking habits. Dave Law and Tom Hyde opened Scotland's first coffee bar back in 2012 and with suave, high tech brewing gear, they've been perfecting the art of the latte since.

According to Allegra, a leading coffee research company, sales of coffee from around 21,000 outlets in the UK brought in £7.9 billion in 2015, which they predict to be £15 billion by 2025. Independent operators occupy 32% of the market, and outside of London, Edinburgh has a particularly admirable specialist coffee offering.

From the Old Town to the New, cafés all over the city are battling to pour the perfect cup, using single-origin, direct trade, pour-over and a number of other techniques to make their brew stand out against the rest. But, what are they all forgetting? That many of us are out there past 6pm in need of a late night caffeine hit.

Recognising the importance of a coffee based nightcap, Brew Lab are now open until 9pm on Wed–Sun, serving Nitro Cold Brew Martinis and a carefully selected food menu which offers doughnuts from Baba Budan plus cheese and charcuterie boards from IJ Mellis and East Coast Cured. Natural wines, local craft beers and spirits are also added to menu, making it one of the city's only coffee bars with an extensive drinks list.

'The creation and launch of our new late night offering demonstrates demand and the beginning of a change in Edinburgh's coffee culture,' says co-founder Tom Hyde.

'So whether you start the day with a short black or end it with a Nitro Cold Brew Martini, we're excited to be at the forefront; challenging the status quo of how and when coffee can be enjoyed.'

These are new and exciting beginnings for Edinburgh's caffeine addicts, but it's something that's been going on on the other side of the globe in Melbourne for quite some time. Coffee there is served around the clock, and getting your hands on a simple white coffee can be challenging. People know what they want, how they want it and baristas are trained to make coffees that we didn't even know existed; Piccolos, Double Ristrettos, deconstructed coffee in science beakers, you name it, they serve it. In 2008, Starbucks closed 70% of its stores in Victoria, showing that independent coffee shops have become something of an obsession.

It's so high in demand in fact, that they've even got re-usable coffee cups with smart chips so customers can pay by simply waving their cup over the card reader.

While Edinburgh shows no signs of closing their Starbucks or letting customers pay with their cup, it's encouraging to see the coffee culture continuing to develop with bars like Brew Lab who believe there's still more to it.