Celebrating Our First Cafes: Hayes Valley Kiosk and Mint Plaza

This week marks one of our favorite days, a holiday admittedly of our own creation: Blue Bottle Day. It commemorates the opening of our first and second cafes.

In January of 2005, we opened our first brick-and-mortar location, our Hayes Valley Kiosk. Exactly three years later, in 2008, we opened our first four-walled cafe, Mint Plaza. To this day, they remain iconic Blue Bottle locations and essential visits for coffee lovers visiting San Francisco, if we do say so ourselves.

Over the years, we’ve reminisced about the early days. If you want to join us on a trip down memory lane, enjoy some of our favorite stories about these near mythical locations.

A Love Letter to Our First Cafe

“My Peugeot station wagon didn't sputter or shudder or rattle on the Bay Bridge; it just lost all power and glided gently to a stop. I don't usually think about omens, but as you might imagine, I thought this was a bad one. That my improbable run of luck (plucky farmers market coffee guys!) could be coming to a close. The symbolism of giant semitrucks leering at us, then crushing us, was too obvious to ignore.” —Blue Bottle founder James Freeman

The Story Behind Our Favorite Off-Menu Drink

“Back when we were getting ready to open our matchbook-sized Hayes Valley Kiosk, someone bought a bunch of Gibraltar octagonal beveled glass tumblers under the (mistaken) impression that they would be big enough for cupping coffee. At 4.5 ounces, the glasses turned out to be just a little too small, but when our baristas realized that the petite transparent cups were perfect for evaluating shots, they were repurposed for making sure our new espresso machine was up to snuff.”

Mint Plaza Cafe, Birthplace of Our 17Ft CEILING Espresso

“Since opening in 2008, six years after our 2002 founding and three years after the 2005 opening of our first brick-and-mortar location, our Hayes Valley Kiosk, San Francisco's Mint Plaza cafe has garnered a reputation that feels almost mythical. While we won't discount its location in the historic 1912 Provident Loan Association building, or the row of coffee siphons that, to the unfamiliar, look like the accoutrements of a mad scientist, we think this allure is rooted in a tradition of coffee excellence.”

Hayes Valley Kiosk: Linden Street, Our First Location, Still Might Be the Most Magical

“Our Hayes Valley Kiosk in San Francisco was our first brick-and-mortar location and remains a beacon. Among other contributions, it provided the name for our Hayes Valley Espresso Blend, which we now serve in Blue Bottle cafes around the world. It remains a beloved place for regulars and an essential stop for coffee lovers visiting San Francisco. Blue Bottle founder James Freeman recently sat down with two longtime former Blue Bottle Hayes Valley baristas John O'Donovan and Alex Klimek, who spent a combined two decades working at the Kiosk. Here, they talk about the magic that happened at our first brick-and-mortar location and why people still line up for espresso and pour over there today.”