Oakland Coffee Guide: 13 Specialty Shops, Roasters, and Cafes

Oakland coffee runs through Uptown, Telegraph Avenue, and the Lake Merritt edge. Tierra Mia anchors Broadway at 20th, founded by Ulysses Romero around the Latin American coffee tradition. Modern Coffee holds the Leamington Building on 19th Street. Proyecto Diaz runs an Oaxaca-linked roastery program out of the Uptown cafe. Jerusalem Coffee House opened on Telegraph in September 2023 under Abdulrahim Harara, a Palestinian-American owner who built the room as a public statement.

Below are four Oakland cafes drawn from the editorial coverage. The list spans Uptown to North Oakland, the part of the city that actually walks for its coffee.

Tierra Mia Coffee

2001 Broadway, Oakland, CA 94612, USA

Tierra Mia Coffee anchors a corner of Broadway at 20th in downtown Oakland, near the 19th Street BART. Ulysses Romero founded the company in 2008, a Stanford MBA and the son of Mexican immigrants whose family was in food production. Today Tierra Mia roasts in-house at the Los Angeles roastery, sourcing single origin beans primarily from Latin America. The Horchata Latte is the signature: cinnamon, milk, and espresso pulled into a familiar Mexican rice-milk register. The Tres Leches Muffin and Guava Cheese Strudel sit beside it in the pastry case. The Oakland room runs as the Bay Area outpost of an LA-rooted operation. On weekend mornings the space fills with downtown regulars and Bay Area Latinx families who come for the menu they know. Order the Horchata Latte if you want the drink Tierra Mia built the brand on. Order a single origin pour over if you came to taste the Latin American beans roasted at the LA roastery.

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Modern Coffee

381 19th Street

Modern Coffee sits inside the Leamington Building on 19th Street in downtown Oakland. Kristen and Martina have run the place since 2009, women owned and women operated, and the room reflects it: small, warm, and largely free of the production theater that defines a lot of Bay Area coffee. The drink list runs straightforward espresso alongside a few signatures the regulars know by heart, including a masala chai and a burnt cinnamon latte that have outlasted trends. Mornings bring downtown Oakland workers, county and federal staff from the buildings nearby, and regulars who walked in once a decade ago and never stopped. The pace is quick but never hurried. Order the burnt cinnamon latte if you want the drink Modern regulars order without thinking. Order a straight cappuccino if you came in for an honest cup before the rest of downtown wakes up.

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Proyecto Diaz Coffee

2201 Broadway

Proyecto Diaz is an Oaxaca-linked, Oakland-based roaster pulling beans from the family farm in Mexico. The Uptown cafe at 2201 Broadway runs pendant lighting and rope-suspended terracotta planters, the kind of room that tells you where the coffee is from before you read the menu. Cafe de olla holds the cinnamon and piloncillo profile its name promises. Mazapan and horchata lattes anchor the signature menu, and tamales sit ready in the case for the morning rush. Espresso is dialed to carry the Mexican palate, not flatten it. Order the cafe de olla if you want the drink the family farm was built around. Order the mazapan latte if you want the version of Oakland coffee that refuses to taste like anywhere else.

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Jerusalem Coffee House

5443 Telegraph Ave, Oakland, CA 94609, USA

Jerusalem Coffee House opened on Telegraph Avenue in North Oakland in September 2023, run by Abdulrahim Harara, a Palestinian Bay Area native who built the room as a Palestinian cultural hub as much as a cafe. The menu runs Palestinian-inspired lattes alongside teas, juices, smoothies, and baked goods. The space hosts fundraisers for the Palestinian Children Relief Fund and workshops tied to the community. Coffee work is steady and the room is warm. Order a Palestinian-spiced latte if you want the drink that explains why people drive across the bay for this corner. Order a tea and a pastry if you came for the room and the conversation as much as the coffee.

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An Oakland morning that starts at Modern Coffee in Uptown, walks down Broadway to Tierra Mia at 20th, then drives north to Jerusalem on Telegraph is three rooms across three Oakland identities. The Pulled directory tracks every specialty cafe across the East Bay with check-in radius for the iOS app.

Pulled Coffee maps every cafe in Oakland. Check in with the iOS app to start earning real cash. Visit /earn for the rules.