Mercury News | Longtime Oakland coffee roaster, holding steady

Photo: Karl Mondon/Bay Area News Group

During these tough times, we appreciate this gracious feature by Joseph Geha of The Mercury News!

The pandemic has pushed us to lean heavily on our Italian and family values to get us through. One is hospitality — so we were delighted to have Joseph Geha reach out to us to hear our story, then visit with photographer Karl Mondon.

Mr. Espresso is a two-generation, coffee roaster founded by family patriarch in 1978.

Speaking on his father starting the business:

“When an Italian guy moves to the United States and…it’s very hard to find espresso, he realized that he was missing something from his homeland, and he decided to try and help it proliferate here.”

– Luigi Di Ruocco, Co-owner & VP of Sales, Mr. Espresso

Our primary client base has, from the beginning, been hospitality industry businesses: restaurants, cafes, coffeehouses, bakeries, and hotels across the Bay Area and beyond. With the hard hit that hospitality has taken, lockdown was a quiet time for us to reflect, regroup, take care of each other, and even try something new with .

Luigi talks about Steeped:

“It’s always been very intriguing that they are fully compostable single-serve coffee products. But with the pandemic and social distancing, and making your own cup of coffee, they kind of have added a further intrigue to the market. In addition, with people going camping, hiking and biking, the Steeped pouches do position nicely within the outdoor market.”

With so many businesses facing the worst circumstances, we’re grateful to still be doing what we love and do best — at our .

You can read our conversation with Joseph Geha here. Our deep thanks to Joseph, Karl Mondon and Bay Area News Group / The San Jose Mercury News.

Link to Article

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