
Blue Bottle Morse Building
A Coffee Workshop
Blue Bottle Coffee’s Oakland flagship blends historic architecture with a fresh take on craft coffee culture.
Removing Boundaries
Blue Bottle founder James Freeman brought craft coffee to Northern California in the early 2000s, and as he grew his then fledging business, he wanted each new location to express a unique character, just like his single-origin roasts. With his Oakland flagship location in the historic Morse Building, large picture windows and clerestories spanning two facades prompted a rethinking of the familiar server-served café organization. Instead, an open plan centered around a 30-foot-long stainless-steel table cum espresso bar makes the exchange the focus of the location from inside and outside.

