Mr. Espresso

Overview

Carlo Di Ruocco — Salerno-born, apprenticed to a wood-fire-roasting master in his native Italy as a teenager, then trained as an elevator mechanic in Paris before immigrating to the Bay Area in 1967 — founded Mr. Espresso in his Alameda garage in 1978. He started by importing and servicing Italian espresso machines for restaurants that had no idea what to do with them, then began commercial roasting in 1982 over an oak wood fire — the technique he had learned in Salerno, and a method no other commercial roaster in the United States has continued to use. Early clients included Alice Waters at Chez Panisse, Paul Bertolli at Oliveto, and Bradley Ogden at Campton Place — Mr. Espresso essentially put espresso on Bay Area fine-dining menus. The company is still family-run; Carlo died at home in January 2025 at age 90.

Known for

• Founded 1978 by Carlo Di Ruocco in Alameda, CA — moved to Oakland warehouse in 1981
• Only commercial roaster in the United States using oak-wood-fire roasting (since 1982)
• Founding supplier to Chez Panisse, Oliveto and Campton Place — espresso's introduction to Bay Area fine dining
• Family-owned through two generations — children John, Laurence and Luigi Di Ruocco now run the company
• Opened first branded café — The Caffè by Mr. Espresso — in downtown Oakland in 2023

Why it matters

Mr. Espresso is the bridge between old-world Italian espresso tradition and American specialty coffee — Di Ruocco was roasting espresso as a beverage to be drunk on its own (not as filler for milk drinks) twenty years before the third wave decided that mattered. The continued oak-wood roasting is the hard-to-copy part: nobody else in the U.S. specialty trade roasts this way, and the relationship with Alice Waters and Paul Bertolli put Italian espresso on the same restaurant menus that defined California cuisine.

Production

destoning

null

head roaster

John Di Ruocco (VP of Coffee — 2024 Sprudge Twenty member)

color sorting

null

roaster machine

Oak-wood-fired drum roaster (only commercial wood-fire roaster in the U.S.)

filter equipment

null

cupping frequency

null

roastery location

696 3rd Street, Oakland, CA (since 1990s)

espresso equipment

Faema espresso machines (exclusive Northern California / Oregon / Washington / Nevada / Hawaii distributor); also Mazzer and Macap grinders

annual volume tonnes

null

Café

1120 Broadway, The Key at 12th, Oakland, CA

Recognitions

• Good Food Awards Winner — Organic Ethiopia Shantawene Natural (2022)
• John Di Ruocco — Sprudge Twenty (2024)
• Founder Carlo Di Ruocco recognized by The San Francisco Standard and SF Chronicle as pioneer of Italian espresso in America

Sources

• https://mrespresso.com/about/
• https://mrespresso.com/about/history/
• https://mrespresso.com/in-memoriam-mr-espresso-founder-carlo-di-ruocco/
• https://sfstandard.com/2023/04/27/how-an-elevator-repairman-in-oakland-helped-put-espresso-on-the-map/
• https://www.alamedamagazine.com/mr-espresso/
• https://www.baristamagazine.com/mr-espresso-opens-the-caffe-in-downtown-oakland-part-one/