OAKLAND, Calif., USA – Today, Blue Bottle Coffee announced its first Studio residency in the U.S. Under the creative direction of Blue Bottle Coffee’s founder, James Freeman and working closely with Blue Bottle’s Global Head of Innovation, Benjamin Brewer, the Studio represents the company’s particular perspective on the pinnacle of specialty coffee through an eight-course tasting menu.
Open from September 27 through November 5, the Los Angeles Blue Bottle Studio residency features some of the most extraordinary and limited coffees in the world. The coffees showcased at the Studio are sourced from limited lots from long-time Blue Bottle producers. These include a Gesha microlot from Panama’s Finca Deborah; a Wush Wush from Colombia’s Eco Farm La Cereza; Aljidan X1 from Yemen’s Qima Coffee; and an extremely limited California Gesha from Frinj Coffee in Goleta.
The Blue Bottle Studio service is unlike any other coffee tasting in the specialty coffee market. The tools have been simplified and the techniques refined to such a degree that guests will be able to taste coffee leaves, flowers, cherries, and roasted coffee in a way that will underscore their simple, transcendent truth. Truth takes time, however.
The painstakingly simple brew methods, which have been developed for this service have been repeatedly refined over four years of trials and a debut in Japan last spring, are exacting and precise.
However, the setting is relaxed and elegant. Los Angeles-based pastry chef Kiyoshi Tsukamoto has developed two pastries that will highlight the flavors of the coffee used in the service. Both culinary offerings are nut and gluten-free.
“Benjamin and I have been working on these concepts for about twelve years,” said Blue Bottle’s Founder, James Freeman. “After the successful launch of this menu in Kyoto last spring, we continued to refine and revise it until we had a tasting that underscores the simple, inherent beauty in these extraordinary coffees.”
Similar to the Studio residencies Blue Bottle offered in Hong Kong and Kyoto earlier this year, the Los Angeles Blue Bottle Studio is designed to free guests from the usual constraints of the cafe experience and place them into a space that transcends it.
The modest, eight-seat space in Los Angeles, designed in collaboration with wrk-shp and Capsule Manufacturing, features a custom-made brass bar and vintage furniture which can be loaded up into a truck at the end of the residency and used in the next location. Also contributing to the visual elements of the space are curtains dyed using various blends of Blue Bottle coffee beans designed by Lookout & Wonderland.
The sonic environment is important too: a beautiful vintage stereo, selected by noted audio specialist Benjamin Brinkman, will play records chosen by James, Benjamin, and the other Studio baristas, to underscore the way the coffee is being brewed. Everything from the design of the space to the coffees selected, brewing methods, and cups into which the coffee is poured have been thoughtfully selected to create an environment for guests to enjoy the tasting experience.
The Studio’s tasting menu of coffees and desserts is unavailable at any other Blue Bottle location. Additionally, guests of the Studio can purchase select coffee beans and merchandise used in the service such as Japanese cups and plates, Takahiro Haruka Shizuku kettle, and an exclusive coffee-dyed tote bag, enabling guests to bring the simple yet elevated Studio coffee experience home.
“Everything we do at Blue Bottle is designed with intentionality and the Studio experience is our way of expressing the best of what coffee can be,” said Jeff Cha, Chief Brand & Growth Officer at Blue Bottle Coffee. “After the enthusiastic response from our fans in Japan and Hong Kong, we knew we had to bring the experience to the US starting in Los Angeles.”
Blue Bottle Studio is open Wednesday through Sunday from 10am to 4pm with three seatings: 10:00am, 12:00pm, and 2:30pm. The Studio experience lasts around 90 minutes and operates on a reservation-only basis for the price of $75 per person, which includes gratuity.
For full details on Blue Bottle Studio and to reserve your seat, please visit https://bluebottlecoffee.com/us/eng/blue-bottle-studio or https://www.exploretock.com/blue-bottle-coffee. Follow along on Instagram and TikTok via @bluebottle.
