Trouble Coffee Opens in Oakland, Is Very White

$4 toast progenitor Trouble Coffee has arrived in West Oakland, the East Bay Express notes, bringing owner Giulietta Carrelli's simple menu of coffee, coconuts, grapefruit juice and the patient zero of comfort foods along with it. Although the Carrelli and her Outer Sunset garage/coffee counter were the setting for a Pacific Standard article as well as an episode of This American Life, the new location (the third after another in the Bayview) arrived with refreshingly little fanfare.

With a little more room, the West Oakland shop continues the minimalist (or sparse, depending on how you look at it) vibe in an airy, industrial space painted a stark all-over white. While toast and coffee is an unimpeachable lineup, early patrons with the urge to Yelp have been eager to weigh in on the shop's particular quirks, like the fact that there's no written menu, no bathroom for customers and a strict no electronic devices rule.

"So I found out about this place on Instagram," writes Yelper Brian L., who wasn't a fan of the staff, the lack of air conditioning and the fact that is was, "not near anything." Others weren't as polite with their thoughts on the Willow Street address, like Albertino M., who called the neighborhood "sketchy" at least three times. On the other hand, not everyone had the same hangups: Petty L. found the staff "so friendly!" and gave her drink, a lavender Earl Grey latte called "The Girlfriend," a five-star review.