02 Intro

09 Editor's Letter

12 Welcome
People I encountered at various Blue Bottle stores in Tokyo

16 Opinions
Michael Phillips, Blue Bottle Coffee Culture Director

20 Slow Coffee
Blue Bottle's Three Brew Recipes for a Balanced Coffee Flavor

26 Mate
Baristas and roasters who represent Blue Bottle's unique coffee culture.

30 Backstage
The Oakland Roastery and Cupping Room, which controls the coffee flavors of all Blue Bottle Coffee locations.

34 Essenstials
Blue Bottle's diverse product line reflects aesthetic sensibility and unique technological prowess.

42 Opinions
Brand planner Taesu Lim

46 Atmosphere
Blue Bottle Coffee stores across California, USA, embracing locality and individuality.

50 Experience
Blue Bottle Coffee's space and coffee experience embody the brand's philosophy.

63 Opinion
Blue Bottle Coffee EVP Saki Igawa

66 Atmosphere
A Blue Bottle Coffee store in Japan, nestled in a cozy neighborhood with a unique local atmosphere.
70 Cafe Society
Blue Bottle Coffee's influence and growth drivers, as told by people who have worked with the brand across various sectors.

80 New Wave
A Tokyo roastery cafe that has contributed to the popularization of specialty coffee culture since the arrival of Blue Bottle Coffee.

86 Refined

96 Brand Story
The story of Blue Bottle's birth and growth

104 Interview
Founder James Freeman and CEO Brian Meehan

112 Henry House
Henry House, Blue Bottle Coffee's headquarters in Oakland

Session 116
Blue Bottle's training program encapsulates its corporate culture and approach to hospitality.

118 Partners
Large-scale venture investments and acquisitions that have laid the foundation for brand growth

122 Origin
Representative origins of single-origin coffee beans handled by Blue Bottle Coffee

124 Coff￢ee Capitals
Four Cities That Have Developed Their Own Cafe Cultures

128 Seoul
Seoul, a city that holds significance as Blue Bottle Coffee's second overseas expansion location.

132 Figures
Numbers that give an idea of ​​Blue Bottle Coffee's business scale and the influence of specialty coffee.

135 References

137 Outro

There is an expression called 'coffee break'.
Literally, we always have coffee with us when we need a break or recharge during work.
Conversely, even during times that require extreme concentration and immersion, I rely on a cup of coffee for strength.
Some people consider coffee itself a gourmet treat, seeking out the best cafes wherever they go. It's also common to see people with various coffee tools at home or in the office, enjoying coffee as if they were in a cafe.
Coffee is also what brings people who are accustomed to digital communication offline.
The way modern society consumes a cup of coffee-based beverage is truly a 'syndrome'.
It is no exaggeration to say that coffee is the only single product in the food sector that has had such a long-lasting social and cultural influence.
A Californian businessman I met in an interview once said, “(Since the 21st century) America has been built on coffee,” and this isn’t just about America.
Korea is also famous for its numerous coffee shops and the constant creation of new styles of cafes.
So much so that I hear jokes like, 'I always live in a state of awakening.'

It would be more accurate to say that the nature of this syndrome has been centered around the space called a cafe or a coffee brand rather than coffee itself.
Blue Bottle Coffee, introduced in this issue, is a brand that has led the syndrome for the past 10 years.
As a leading player in the so-called "third wave" of specialty coffee, we have focused on improving the quality of all experiences associated with a cup of coffee, as well as creating unique flavors.
Thanks to Blue Bottle's efforts and the success of these efforts, the cafe industry serving high-quality coffee has also grown significantly.
Intelligentsia, which was covered by magazine B seven years ago, is also a specialty coffee brand and is often mentioned alongside Blue Bottle.

I also discovered something interesting while covering two specialty coffee brands over a seven-year period.
2012 was a time when specialty coffee was just beginning to gain traction, and the direction of Blue Bottle, Intelligentsia, and other specialty coffee brands wasn't all that different in terms of connecting with local communities, personalized hospitality, and improving distribution and production environments.
It was only as the specialty coffee industry matured that Blue Bottle's approach to the market began to show a clear difference.
Since the third wave, they have constantly questioned and moved aggressively about 'what new challenges will we discover and create another wave of our own?'
The growth process of a good brand is often described as creating unique values ​​and steadfastly maintaining those values. However, Blue Bottle didn't stop there and took the next step.
Their 'next' was to expand and refine the brand's value to create a business that continues to be meaningful.
Of course, during this process, people who had supported the brand sometimes leave, and various internal disputes arise.
However, it is also true that only those who lead and embrace these changes can achieve new achievements.

This brings me to the words of our founder, James Freeman:
“If we were too focused on the boring, puristic things that other people are into, we wouldn’t even have a latte menu.
“We will not become that kind of company.” Just as a great sports team succeeds in generational change through constant tactical experimentation and player strengthening rather than a consistent streak of easy victories, Blue Bottle has also chosen to take a challenging approach.
Their acquisition of coffee bean subscription services and grinding technology startups, the improvement of their website with support from Google Ventures, and the gradual establishment of a systematic employee development system are all part of this roadmap.
In this issue, magazine B aims to tell the story of how the brand expanded its value by starting with carefully brewing delicious coffee in 2002 and 'making delicious coffee easily accessible to more people.' We hope that this story will serve as a kind of 'coffee break' to spark a conversation about growth.

Editor-in-Chief Park Eun-seong