I must confess that I’ve never given much thought to visiting cat cafés, even though I really like cats. However, when my friend Richard suggested Cat Town in Oakland, which has the RAWR Coffee Bar attached, I was intrigued. Cat Town was America’s first cat café when it opened in 2014, while the RAWR Coffee Bar followed in 2017. Although linked (you enter Cat Town via RAWR, for example), they operate independently, so you’re free to pop into the coffee bar without any obligation to visit Cat Town.

What makes Cat Town stand out from the other cat cafés that I’ve previously been aware of is that all the cats in residence are up for adoption (which is why Richard was there). You can read more about Cat Town’s work in its own Saturday Supplement. Meanwhile, today’s Saturday Short focuses on the RAWR Coffee Bar, which serves espresso-based drinks and a batch brew filter option from local roasters Highwire. There’s also a small selection of pastries if you’re hungry.

You can read more of my thoughts after the gallery.

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Although Cat Town/RAWR Coffee Bar is on Broadway, a main north-south drag through the centre of Oakland, the entrance is at the back of the building (easily recognisable by its corner turret), around the corner on 29^th Street. Together they take up building’s ground floor, with Cat Town occupying the front, RAWR Coffee Bar at the back, where you’ll also find three small, square two-person tables outside on the pavement, tucked up against the wall.

The door is at the far end, past the tables, and leads you into the back of the coffee bar, on the right-hand side. Since 29^th Street slopes upwards, the door is significantly above floor level. There are two ways down: either straight ahead, down three broad steps, or to your left, where a long, gentle ramp runs down the right-hand wall to deposit you at the front of the coffee bar, where a four-person window-bar overlooks Cat Town beyond. If you want to watch the cats at play (or at sleep), but can’t go inside, then this is the next best thing.

There’s not much more to the coffee bar. The counter runs along the left-hand wall, facing the door/ramp, while there’s a four-person bar, where you sit with your back to the counter, running along the side of the ramp. Finally, tucked away next to the door/top end of the ramp, is a little two-person bar, which are the best seats in the house if you want some privacy!

The coffee bar has a limited espresso-based menu (espresso or Americano, plus cappuccino or latte for milk-based drinks) served using The Core, a blend from Highwire Coffee Roasters. This is joined by a batch brew drawn from Highwire’s range of single-origins, the specific beans changing every few weeks. All the beans, including multiple blends and single-origins, are available to buy in retail bags, along with a large selection of cat-related merchandising.

I had an espresso, The Core producing a classic, well-balanced shot which went down a treat. If you are visiting the coffee bar as part of your visit to Cat Town, you’re welcome to take your drinks in with you. Alternatively, you can come just for the coffee (which is what my friend Karen did, since her asthma prevented her from visiting the cats), although if you do, I recommend coming on the half-hour since on the hour, every hour, there is quite a rush as one set of Cat Town visitors leave and the next set assemble in readiness to spend their allotted hour with the cats.

December 2020: RAWR Coffee Bar was a runner-up for the 2020 Most Unlikely Place to Find a Coffee Spot Award.

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