What is the history of the Blue Bottle Coffee Co.?
You can check the answer of the people under the question at Quora “blue bottle coffee century city“
What is the history of the Blue Bottle Coffee Co.?
You can check the answer of the people under the question at Quora “blue bottle coffee century city“
Taken directly from Blue Bottle’s Our Story page:
In the late 1600s, the Turkish army swept across much of Eastern and Central Europe, arriving at Vienna in 1683. Besieged and desperate, the Viennese needed an emissary who could pass through Turkish lines to get a message to the nearby Polish troops. Franz George Kolshitsky, who spoke Turkish and Arabic, took on the assignment disguised in a Turkish uniform. After many perilous close calls, Kolshitsky completed his valiant deed, returning to give the Viennese the news of the Poles’ imminent rescue of their city. On September 13, the Turks were repelled from Vienna, leaving everything they brought: camels, tents, honey, and strange bags of beans, which were thought to be camel feed. Kolshitsky, having lived in the Arab world for several years, knew these were bags of coffee. Using the money bestowed on him by the mayor of Vienna for his heroic deed, Kolshitsky bought the Turks’ coffee, opened Central Europe’s first coffee house (The Blue Bottle), and brought coffee to a grateful Vienna.
319 years later, in Oakland, Calif., a slightly disaffected freelance musician and coffee lunatic, weary of the grande eggnog latte and the double skim pumpkin-pie macchiato, decided to open a roaster for people who were clamoring for the actual taste of freshly roasted coffee. Using a miniscule six-pound batch roaster, he made an historic vow: “I will only sell coffee less than 48 hours out of the roaster to my customers, so they may enjoy coffee at its peak of flavor. I will only use the finest, most delicious and responsibly sourced beans.” In honor of Kolshitsky’s heroics, he named his business Blue Bottle Coffee, and began another chapter in the history of superlative coffee.
Now, more than 10 years later and thanks to the enthusiastic support of many loyal customers, Blue Bottle Coffee has grown to a small network of cafes, wholesale partners, an espresso cart, and some vintage German coffee roasters. We are still united by the simple purpose of getting great coffee to everyone who asks for it. Improbably and delightfully, there are hundreds of us now. We roast coffee on vintage gear, put it in compostable bags, and still get it to our customers within 48 hours. We roast great coffee on two coasts, make great drinks, clean up after ourselves, bake cookies, type up invoices, get change at the bank, and say please and thank you. We offer the elderly and pregnant our seats on the bus and brush and floss daily. We look forward to seeing you soon.
James Freeman, founder of Blue Bottle Coffee Co.
A very informative The New York Times blog post also explains how the company got started:
James Freeman founded Blue Bottle, named after a Viennese cafe from the 1600s, out of obsession. A classical clarinetist, he didn’t think it odd that he bought green (fresh) beans and roasted them on a cookie sheet in his oven. Nor did he think it strange that when he traveled with orchestras in the 1990s, he would pack his own grinder and French press, going so far as to ask flight attendants to pour hot water into his press on morning flights. “Now it does seem ridiculous and controlling,” he admitted.
In 2002, he started selling his beans at farmers’ markets. Soon he was asked to park his new espresso cart outside the San Francisco Ferry Building, where lines gathered early for carefully made cappuccinos and drip coffee. Chez Panisse chose Blue Bottle for its house blend. A few years later, he opened a kiosk in an alley in Hayes Valley, followed by an actual walls-and-windows cafe on Mint Street, which drew crowds with its $20,000 Japanese siphon machine .
This year [2010] was particularly hectic, with a new cafe in the Ferry Building (the cart’s still out there on weekends); a cafe at SF MoMA, where his wife, Caitlin Williams Freeman, formerly of Miette bakery, makes pastries inspired by the collection; and a new roastery and cafe in Oakland. In keeping with his aesthetic and coffee geek-outs (just read the “Preparation” page on his Web site), Freeman worked with Heath Ceramics to make his ideal espresso cup for the SF MoMA space.
Freeman credits the success of his cafes to a kind of familiarity. “So much of coffee is about seeing the same faces,” he said. “At the kiosk, our baristas know half the people in line. It’s also a little bit about winning trust — putting a bag of coffee in their hand and saying, ‘You’re going to like this’ or ‘Try this Chemex or little dripper ,’ and knowing it’s true.”
This year [2010] he hopes to focus on his existing spaces, though he says his interest in doing something in New York (besides establishing the coffee program at Gramercy Tavern) has been “upgraded from pipe dream to fervent wish to actual intention.”
Since then, they have majorly expanded in NYC and the Bay Area. Just this year, they opened a new cafe on Dean Street in Brooklyn, and created a new roast (House of Good) that was crafted with the help of LCD Soundsystem’s James Murphy. Their future plans also include opening a cafe in Downtown Palo Alto .
From Blue Bottle’s ‘who we are’ page : Who We Are | Blue Bottle Coffee
“[]…319 years later, in Oakland, Calif., a slightly disaffected freelance musician and coffee lunatic, weary of the grande eggnog latte and the double skim pumpkin-pie macchiato, decided to open a roaster for people who were clamoring for the actual taste of freshly roasted coffee. Using a miniscule six-pound batch roaster, he made a historic vow: “I will only sell coffee less than 48 hours out of the roaster to my customers, so they may enjoy coffee at its peak of flavor. I will only use the finest, most delicious and responsibly sourced beans.” In honor of Kolshitsky’s heroics, he named his business Blue Bottle Coffee, and began another chapter in the history of superlative coffee.
Now, more than 10 years later and thanks to the enthusiastic support of many loyal customers, Blue Bottle Coffee has grown to a small network of cafes, wholesale partners, an espresso cart, and some vintage German coffee roasters. We are still united by the simple purpose of getting great coffee to everyone who asks for it. Improbably and delightfully, there are hundreds of us now. We roast coffee on vintage gear, put it in compostable bags, and still get it to our customers within 48 hours. We roast great coffee on two coasts, make great drinks, clean up after ourselves, bake cookies, type up invoices, get change at the bank, and say please and thank you. We offer the elderly and pregnant our seats on the bus and brush and floss daily. We look forward to seeing you soon.”
From Wikipedia – Blue Bottle Coffee Company
Blue Bottle Coffee Company is a US coffee roaster and retailer headquartered in Oakland, California , considered a major player in third wave coffee . [1] The company focuses on single-origin beans. [2] They are notable for their dedication to coffee preparation, as expressed in their extensive brewing guides. [3] The CEO & founder of the company is James Freeman.
Locations :
The company while based in Oakland, California 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. [4]
Blue Bottle Coffee Company continued to grow and is now located in 6 different cities around the world. Those cities are Oakland , San Francisco , Palo Alto , Los Angeles , New York City , and Tokyo .
History :
Blue Bottle opened its first New York location in 2010. [5] The company-owned stores carry off-menu items such as the “Gibraltar”, a form of cortado . [4] San Francisco-based contemporaries include Four Barrel Coffee and Ritual Coffee Roasters , among others. [6] In 2012, Blue Bottle followed in the footsteps of previously independent roasters like Stumptown Coffee by taking $20 million in venture capital investment. [7]
In April 2015, Blue Bottle Coffee Company merged with Tartine Bakery. Since this merger, the two combined food & beverage companies have raised over $70 million in venture capital from investors led by Fidelity .