Blue Bottle Coffee, Inc., is a coffee roaster and retailer once headquartered in Oakland, California, United States. In 2017, a majority stake in the company was acquired by Nestlé (68%). It is a major player in third wave coffee.[1] The company focuses on single-origin beans.[2]
Company type | Private |
---|---|
Industry | Coffee industry |
Founded | 2002 |
Founder | W. James Freeman |
Headquarters | , |
Area served | United States |
Key people | W. James Freeman, Founder Karl Strovink, CEO |
Owner | Nestlé (68%) |
Website | bluebottlecoffee.com |
Once based in Oakland, California, the company soon expanded to other areas around the country. Blue Bottle first expanded to several cafés in locations around San Francisco, including the Ferry Building and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art's rooftop garden.[3] The company operates 99 stores as of June 2021, with locations in California, New York, Washington, D.C., Boston, Chicago, Seoul, Jeju, Kyoto, Kobe, Tokyo, Osaka, Yokohama, Hong Kong and Shanghai.[4]
W. James Freeman founded Blue Bottle Coffee in the early 2000s in Oakland's Temescal District.[5] Freeman borrowed the name from one of Europe's first cafés, The Blue Bottle Coffee House. Initially, he intended to roast coffee in small batches (6 lbs. per roast) to sell within 24 hours of roasting, as a home-delivery service. Blue Bottle soon ceased deliveries and opened as a traditional café.[6]
Blue Bottle opened additional locations in San Francisco and elsewhere in the San Francisco Bay Area and opened its first New York location in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, in 2010.[7] The company-owned stores carry off-menu items such as the "Gibraltar", a form of cortado.[3]