Absolute Roasters
10 Waterloo Street
The last stand of the indies as you enter the financial district and the big guns take over. Medium or dark roast options and pleasant, swift service that doesn’t involve you giving your name as you order your coffee. There’s an in-house bakery too. Takeaway only.

Gordon Street Coffee
79 Gordon Street
It’s so nice to find a bricks-and-mortar indie in a train station. At the counter there’s an understandable queue from Central’s recently alighted and about-to-embark, while a mezzanine affords a bit of breathing space from the churn, where you can watch the beans being roasted.

Kaffateria
5–7 Dundas Street
Facing directly onto Queen Street Station, this place has as much buzzing in and out as the ticket barriers across the way. But it’s spacious and quiet upstairs, open until 7pm and also sells beer and wine. Gourmet sausage rolls and big ciabatta sandwiches are there for the hungry. 

Pastéis Lisboa
24 Gordon Street
A second branch of this Byres Road pastelaria took over the premises of the popular Riverhill on Gordon Street in autumn 2025, serving up their own classic and vegan pastel de nata.

Tantrum Doughnuts
28 Gordon Street
Tantrum do some of the greatest doughnuts in Glasgow but their city centre unit also has 12 little bench seats hidden round the back, makes coffee using beans from Papercup (another Glasgow institution) and is open until 6.30pm when most other indies have long since closed.

Also try... proper crafty beans from artisan roasters around the globe at Laboratorio Espresso on West Nile Street, while right beside Absolute Roasters is a branch of Piece, the ever-reliable Glasgow artisan sandwich shop if it’s a lunchtime fix you’re after. And, although it’s a chain by most definitions these days, New York’s Blank Street has yet to lose its lustre if matcha is your thing.

This TipList is taken from Eat & Drink 365 Glasgow, our sister mag recommending the best in restaurants, bars, cafés and more. Want a copy? It’s available online or across all good stockists in Glasgow.