Shortly after Sightglass Coffee opened on Seventh Street in 2011, a friend of mine walked me through SoMa to the San Francisco cafe and roastery. The combination of exposed beams, cathedral-like windows, giant bags of coffee beans and large machinery in motion evoked a refined steampunk aesthetic. Unlike its cheaper and faster competitors, Sightglass announced its arrival on the scene by riding on the top of the third wave of artisanal coffee makers.
The pourover, and the wait for it to finish percolating, defined the Sightglass experience. Patient temperaments appreciate this approach. As the baristas make each individual cup of coffee, it’s like watching an artist breathe life into a painting or a sculpture. To make a cup of artisanal coffee, customers must be willing to embrace the ceremonial aspects of production in the same way matcha drinkers do.
Since 2011 Sightglass has expanded slowly and deliberately, landing at a modest total of five locations. The latest is in Berkeley on the ground floor of the Helen Diller Anchor House. The Sightglass website notes that the housing tower was designed “to support UC Berkeley transfer students.” I spoke with Sightglass CEO Sharon Healy to discuss the company’s decision to open there.
Healy joined Sightglass two and half years ago. Since then, people have been asking her when and where Sightglass is going to add new locations. Her initial answer was, “Not yet.” The opportunity to move into the Berkeley location arrived at the right moment. Anchor House, she said, sits on the edge of the UC campus. “It has so much traffic, so much vibrancy—a built-in community with students there and a lot that’s growing around it.”
But the company wouldn’t have opened in the East Bay if it hadn’t established a respected brand in the city. “We’ve had so much success in San Francisco—across SoMa, Divisadero and 20th,” Healy said. “When you go in, it’s not just busy, it’s full all day long. We’re meeting new customers every single day and so it felt like the right time to expand, and like an organic next step for us.”
Choosing the location was also mission-driven. Part of Sightglass’ rent goes towards scholarships for those transfer students in need of financial assistance. “For us that really is important in terms of being a meaningful part of the community,” Healy said. After the Shake Shack opened nearby on Oxford Street, UC Berkeley asked Sightglass to move into the building because it wanted a local business to operate in the space. “It was really hard to say no to something that special,” Healy added.
“We’re really focused on being hyperlocal, not just a brand that’s going to transplant itself into the next location, and not cookie cutter,” Healy said. Berkeley also resonated with Sightglass because of the food scene. “They’re really the pioneers of farm to table, Alice Waters, innovation, creativity, art—and that really aligns with who we are.”
To break the cookie-cutter mold, Sightglass hired the late Olle Lundberg of Lundberg Design. Healy said she’d been a huge fan of the architect whose previous projects included Slanted Door and Flour + Water. One aspect of his aesthetic approach focused on the repurposing of found objects. For the Berkeley cafe, Lundberg Design hand-forged a 12-foot-diameter light fixture that’s wrapped in a galvanized metal netting.
“It’s meant to play off the light,” Healy said. But it’s also a play on the Sightglass name itself. Roasters look through a tube to see how the coffee is developing. “We have stage lighting all around that so you can feel the way the light filters in and out of the cafe,” Healy continued. “And it’s really a nod to that.”
For the Berkeley cafe, Sightglass created Grizzly Peak, a regenerative blend from Peru.
“We had some Cal alums help us name it in honor of Berkeley,” Healy said. “And then a portion of the proceeds of every bag of that coffee will go to fund the Edible Schoolyard Project. We’re coming in there very thoughtfully, like we have in all of our other cafes. We want them to look and feel, through design, the way we’re connecting to the neighborhoods and the community that they’re in. So when you go into the Berkeley cafe, I hope that you’ll feel that.”
Sightglass Coffee, 2169 University Ave., Berkeley. Open weekdays 6:30am to 5pm and weekends 7am to 5pm. sightglasscoffee.com/pages/sightglass-berkeley
