Located in downtown Oakland and inspired by Italian culture, Jones | Haydu designed the new Caffè that reflects the second generation of Bay Area icon Mr. Espresso.

The Italians call the ritual of stepping into a caffè and enjoying espresso a “pausa” (a pause) — a moment that allows for reflection and community. In Italy, the pausa is typically taken while standing at the bar. The goal of the design was to honor this most basic daily ritual and experience as meaningful, as art. In Italy, the espresso experience is more like getting a drink at a bar. All the ordering, waiting (and often the drinking) is done standing at the bar. The experience, then, is essentially having coffee at a communal table. 

The design centers around this communal ritual. To accommodate a good volume of people, the bar is not simply linear, but sits as an island in the space. Great care was taken in the design to provide a multitude of experience around the bar, while remaining democratic and non-hierarchical. This concept led to a custom designed pastry display that is kept long and low, reminiscent of a jewelry shop.



The sculpture is composed of 272 slats formed from a total of 528 pieces, all made of birch plywood, CNC’d, designed and laid out to minimize waste. Each slat is roughly 12’ in length, 2” wide tapering to ¾”, and weighing roughly two pounds. Prototypes were made and tested at the architect’s office. Final slats were assembled, glued, and stained by the architects at the client’s warehouse. Many different staining processes were tested. The final stain was achieved with Ethiopian Shantawene coffee, brewed quite strong, and wet applied. Once dry, the slats were hand rubbed with beeswax.