Highwire Coffee - Oakland CA

These past two weekends I have gotten to go to a few places that I am been meaning to for a while. Just last weekend I was visiting Ma'velous and Sightglass Coffee, and then this past Saturday found me at Rainbow Crocery coop then today I was at Markethall in Oakland.

Now Markethall is an interesting place, basically it's one large store with multiple stores within it if that makes any sense what-so-ever. Their tag line is; "everything you need under one roof." I guess the best way to think of it is as a very high quality gourmet grocery store with everything you would need, and one of those things being coffee.

And so this late Sunday morning I found myself walking into Markethall, and directly into Highwire Coffee, which meets you upon entering on the College Ave side of Market Hall. The first thing that I noticed as I walked up to their location is they carry a nice collection of brewing equipment. And while it was not an exhaustive selection it was a very nice choice selection.

The equipment that I saw them carrying were Baratza grinders, Maestro Plus and Virtuouso, Clever Drippers, Aeropress, french presses and filters. I could very well be missing something. Just seeing what they were carrying as the equipment they are offering their customers was a very encouraging sign.

I however was not really feeling like an espresso or espresso based drink, I had already had an americano and latte so the espresso just didn't sound appealing. I had seen that they had a Baratza Viruouso with the Esatto hooked up to it behind the counter. So I thought they perhaps offered pour over coffee, and since they had a wide range of single origins I was pretty excited. However, much to my dismay they didn't and it was interesting to note the barista also expressed dismay they didn't offer it.

So instead I just got some of their drip coffee. It was a pretty pleasant breakfest like blend of coffee. I was so dismayed about not being able to try their Ethopian I forgot to ask what it was. I am assume with was either their Conscientious Objector blend (fair trade) or their Italian Roast blend as both are noted to have a bright acidity to them compared to the other blends they have.

When I come back to the area I will be sure to stop in and try an espresso next time. It should be noted that one of the owners of Highwire Coffee, Robert Myers, is also part owner of Modern Coffee in downtown Oakland. I haven't been there but I will have to check it out sometime because they routinely carry multiple roasters from the Bay Area and outside of it.

Back to Highwire, overall a good experience and I look forward to trying them again. It's a place that is good to grab a quick cup since it is basically inside a grocery store and there was no seating from what I could see. There is also Bica Coffee just up the street if want a place to sit down, but that is for another post.