3 cafes in the Bay Area's East Bay / IT help for older relatives

CoffeeBeer >> Double Shot Buzz >> East Bay 3

When I visited America in May and June of this year, I ended up spending a week in California’s Bay Area with my friend Rick. As Rick lives in Oakland, we spent most of our time on the east side of the bay. Our main purpose was, of course, to check out some good breweries; but we also wanted to find decent coffee.

On the morning of my first full day Rick and I stopped at Mother Tongue for the liquid part of our breakfast, as we’d already had some bagels. It was a cold morning, and the place was quite full inside. So we ordered our coffees and found a spot out on the front patio. My cortado was very smooth but extremely pleasant, and it was served in a large shot glass with a gorgeous rosette on top. And Rick had a really nice-looking cappuccino. We noticed when we ordered our coffees at the counter inside, there was a great-looking selection of liquors displayed on the wall. But hey, it was probably too early in the morning to think about a cocktail, and we had a full day ahead of us.

From where we sat on the front patio, we could hear a talking traffic light cuckoo-ing away. I was amused because it reminded me a bit of the deceptively loud call of the Coqui frog, a tiny creature which I had experienced only a few weeks earlier in Hawaii.

Having opened in 2019, Mother Tongue is owned by Jen Apodaca, who already had 14 years of experience roasting beans for companies like McMenamin’s, Intelligentsia, Blue Bottle, and The Crown. She’s a certified Q-Grader and former chair of the Coffee Roasters Guild of America, and she won second place in the 2022 Roasters Championship. Besides running Mother Tongue she founded a campaign to not only showcase existing female coffee roasters, but also to promote and encourage women in the industry to become professional roasters themselves. Mother Tongue sources their beans directly from workers in producing countries so that they can pay better than a fair price.

On another afternoon, as a caffeinated pick-me up, we stopped into the appropriately named Cafenated Coffee Company. This is yet another place that sources beans directly from women-owned coffee farm cooperatives located in Central and South America and Africa. And again they hope that female coffee farmers, who are underpaid and underrepresented, will profit more from their efforts.

When we walked in, we were amused by the sign on the wall that saidCaffeinated Cofefe Company. It was most appropriate, because this was the eve of the day when the No Kings anti-Trump protests were happening all over the United States and in parts of Europe. Since it was afternoon Rick went for a cortado, and I had a macchiato. Both of our coffees were very flavourful, proving that it pays to be ethical. The cafe is a very open place located on a corner, with tables outside and high and low tables and counter window seats inside. We sat at the window, and as we sipped our coffees we took in the view of the Wells Fargo Bank, Versailles Nail Spa and Waxing, Dream Fluff Donuts, and the Rialto Cinemas Elmwood, which suggested that after having a coffee one could take out some cash, have a doughnut or dessert, get one’s nails done, and see a film. But we had other things planned for ourselves.

On another morning, when we once again started off with bagels for breakfast, we then stopped into Hal’s Office for coffee. I mean, seeing as how when we used to work together as programmers, and one of our colleagues was a tall rock climber from Utah named Hal, we simply had to stop and see what his coffee was like. As it turned out, my cortado and Rick’s cappuccino were both very attractive and properly made, but the coffee in both seemed to be weak.

Again we sat in the front garden on wood benches, not far from two little Lhasa Apso-type dogs who were obviously one of each sex, because the boy kept trying to hump the girl. Or perhaps, knowing dogs, it was the other way around, or two girls or two boys. I mean, we’re living in a gender-inclusive era, so even dogs are included in that. As we sipped our coffees we could hear the sounds of trains and lots of sirens. Today was finally No Kings Day, and it was already 10am, so no wonder. But possibly it was just a really big fire somewhere.

Hal’s Office is named not after Hal the Rock Climber but after Hal Hoffman, a realtor and notary public who passed away in 2014. The cafe, which was opened in 2017 by Bonnee and Abraham Elterman, is located in Hal’s former public office in order to honour the man, as well as to serve the community of Albany. How nice. Bonnee and Abraham also own the frozen yogurt shop right next door. As well as providing coffee and pastries, Hal’s Office is also open in the evenings on Thursdays through Sundays as a wine bar called Hal’s After Hours. So it’s a shame that Hal can’t be around to enjoy what has become of his office. I forgot to ask inside if they still buy and sell properties and provide notary services...

Speaking of the details of life, which are all online now, reminds me of a very short conversation from a couple of years back with my Bay Area friend:

I’m currently on a call with your uncle. This time he’s asking for help with his computer--he can’t figure out how to get back to an app after minimizing it. I think I talked him through it, but because of his bifurcating train of thought it’s hard to figure out what he’s actually doing. Well, my uncle is having trouble with his app because he needs to contact, oh, you know, and she doesn’t know anything about it, so hey! Jamie says you guys might--well, I’m expecting to, you know, he sent me an email but I can’t--I don’t know, I can’t see the damn thing on my--and I’m not using my--hey, how’s Vicky? So I think it’s pretty straightforward. I do hope you helped him figure it out.