Red Bay Coffee Coming Soon to The Hive in Oakland

Red Bay coffee, the "socially conscious East Bay roaster" profiled in Berkeleyside back in May is ready to expand beyond founder Keba Konte's Fruitvale garage and out into a permanent home. The coffee has been available at the Berkeley farmers market (the same exclusive coffee spot where Blue Bottle famously got its start) for awhile, but with an infusion of over $87,000 in Kickstarter funds Konte and company will be building a regular coffee spot in a shipping container at Oakland's The Hive — a mixed-used development soon to be home to Calavera and Drake's Dealership.

The step is not just a win for East Bay caffeine addicts, but also for Red Bay's ethos in general. The company's eventual goal is to design and create coffee shops and training centers where workers keep all of the profits, a model Konte has developed while running Oakland's Guerrilla Café (also, notably, the first cafe to serve Blue Bottle) and Chasing Lions Café at CCSF.

According to Berkeleyside's latest update, Red Bay's shipping container is currently on Treasure Island getting reconfigured for coffee service. Until their new container home is up and running, Red Bay will be serving from a coffee cart at the Hive starting in mid-August.