Check Out Blue Bottle's Huge New Oakland Cafe

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Today is opening day for Blue Bottle Coffee's enormous new cafe in Temescal, which has already drawn sizable crowds despite having just made its debut this morning. The location, housed in the historic W.C. Morse building, is the company's biggest yet and its first standalone cafe in its Oakland hometown (a small coffee bar is adjacent to its Jack London Square roastery). The building is 102 years old, and Blue Bottle has scrupulously maintained many of its old-school fixtures, including the beautiful patterned upper windows, the high ceilings, and the tile. It's a beautiful space for a company that's on a roll, having just acquired $25 million in funding for more locations and a packaged iced-coffee line.
As Sprudge notes, the most unique facet of Blue Bottle Morse is its focus on home espresso machines, with machines available for purchase, a service and repair shop, and training for home baristas on the ways to make the most of their devices. There's a sizable pour-over bar, Kyoto cold-drippers for iced coffee, and a waffle iron, which will be used to make fresh Liege-style waffles. High-end speakers from owner/audiophile James Freeman's personal collection (he used to be a pro musician) are mounted high above for maximum sound quality.

· First Look: Inside Blue Bottle's New Oakland Cafe [Sprudge]
· Blue Bottle Gets $25 Million in Venture Capital Funding [~ ESF ~]
· Blue Bottle Plots Biggest Location Yet in Oakland [~ ESF ~]