Blue Bottle Opens New Café In Historic San Mateo Building

San Mateo CA

10 December, 2020

4:03 PM

Description

SAN MATEO, CA — A distinctly 21st Century coffeemaker just set up shop in a downtown San Mateo building with historic roots. Blue Bottle Coffee opened a new café earlier this month in the landmark Art Deco building at 201 B St., Suite A. "Our B Street cafe resides in a landmark Art Deco building that has been a social hub in San Mateo's downtown since 1931," Blue Bottle Coffee said in a statement announcing the café's opening that's mindful of the buildings history, noting a cigar store, soda fountain, and clandestine hall for bookies have operated out of the space it now occupies. Welcome to the Blue Bottle family B Street! If you're in San Mateo, pop by for a pour over and enjoy the landmark Art Deco building and design by Bohlin Cywinski Jackson. pic.twitter.com/jEGFV1o09A— Blue Bottle Coffee (@bluebottleroast) December 2, 2020 "We designed our cafe with such conviviality in mind, conceiving the seating area behind the coffee bar as a 'room within a room,' demarcating it with tawny ash wood paneling that clads both ceiling and walls. "The effect is like a modernist take on the steak house of yesteryear, where the right mix of darkness and warmth spotlight the immediate pleasures of coffee and food at hand." The Oakland-based coffeemaker is at the center of the "third-wave" artisanal coffee movement that emerged in the 200os along with Stumptown and La Colombe, among others, as an alternative to corporate coffee chains, CNBC reports. The upscale café isn't cheap. A cup of joe at Blue Bottle Coffee will set you back around $5. "Third-wave coffee is a movement that has been created to produce higher-quality coffee," IBISWorld analyst Rachel Hyland told CNBC. "It's considered an artisanal food, like wine or craft beer, rather than a commodity [like apples or beef]," Hyland says. Blue Bottle Coffee was founded by James Freeman, a clarinet player who started the company with $15,000 in credit card debt. The company is now owned by Nestle and valued at $700 million according to CNBC's report.