Sightglass Coffee, one of San Francisco’s best-known specialty roasters, opened a new cafe in Berkeley on Thursday, marking its first new location in six years and its first Bay Area expansion in nearly a decade.
The cafe is on the ground floor of UC Berkeley’s Helen Diller Anchor House, the 14-story transfer-student residence that opened last year at the edge of campus. The new Sightglass is at 2169 University Ave., near the corner of University Avenue and Oxford Street, a highly visible downtown Berkeley intersection just across from campus.
The opening gives Sightglass a prominent East Bay foothold after years without a new Bay Area cafe. The company, founded in San Francisco in 2009, built its reputation on small-batch roasting, rigorously sourced beans and airy cafes that helped shape the region’s third-wave coffee culture.
Sightglass said a portion of the new location’s rent will help support housing and scholarships for UC Berkeley transfer students, the group the residence was built to serve.
The cafe is also debuting Grizzly Peak Blend, which Sightglass describes as its first Regenerative Organic Certified coffee. A portion of proceeds from the blend will benefit the Edible Schoolyard Project, the Berkeley nonprofit known for its work around food education and school gardens.
“Supporting the Berkeley community and its commitment to impact is especially meaningful to me and Sightglass,” Sharon Healy, the company’s CEO, said in a statement.
The food menu will include pastries from Sunday Bakeshop, along with doughnuts and hot food from George’s Donuts & Merriment. Sightglass said more local collaborations are planned.
The space was designed with Lundberg Design, the San Francisco architecture firm founded by Olle Lundberg, the creative force behind SFMTA’s bus shelters and several notable restaurants.
Sightglass said the Berkeley cafe was among Lundberg’s final projects before he died in late 2025.