The Caffè — a new coffee bar in the heart of Downtown Oakland
We are very proud to announce the Spring 2023 opening of The Caffè by Mr. Espresso. The Caffè will be located just blocks away from our roastery, in downtown Oakland at 1120 Broadway in The Key at 12th.
For my family, espresso is woven into the fabric of our everyday lives and always has been. Our father carried his passion for caffè culture when he immigrated to America in the ’70s. It was a love that began in his own childhood with the simple indulgence of residual sweet and bitter drops from the bottom of his elders’ coffee cups. Coffee and conversation provided a comforting ritual, a foil against the troubled times in the Italy of the early ’40s.
It continued into Carlo’s young adulthood, as he learned the craft of wood roasting from a master roaster in Salerno — an art built on a century of refining and mastering blends for the Italian palette. It’s with this lineage, and with our mother by his side, that our father established Mr. Espresso 45 years ago, and has been dedicated ever since.
Over these four-plus decades, we have evolved with our industry, embracing the values that have resonated. Traceability. Sustainability. Integrity across the supply chain. It’s allowed us to offer the most consistent and delicious coffees possible while celebrating everyone who has had a hand in it. Seed to cup.
John (my brother), Laura (my sister), and I are humbled to be at this nexus: one that embraces the future with care while maintaining reverence for the past, all the while being rooted in the here and now. If there’s one thing we have learned from the past two years, it is the simple pleasures in life, the value of ritual, and the richness of everyday things that keep us grounded. We believe that’s a perspective worth preserving. And it’s one we look forward to sharing with you in a cup at The Caffè by Mr. Espresso.
Saluti!
Luigi Di Ruocco
