Additional proof that Oakland has more hip cred (or at least more available square footage) than San Francisco at this point: the East Bay will soon get the largest Blue Bottle Coffee outpost to date. Roaster-in-Chief James Freeman has just inked a deal to take over the historic W.C. Morse building at the confluence of a couple happening Oakland neighborhoods.

Like the company's Mint Café in the century-old Provident Loan Building in San Francisco, the new Oakland location will have some history behind it. The former auto showroom at the corner of Broadway and 42nd Street survived the 1906 earthquake and at 2,000 square feet, Inside Scoop reports it is bigger than all the rest of the West Coast cafés combined.

Oakland has been good to the ever-expanding coffee roaster, apparently: the coffee traffic at their Oakland coffee bar now eclipses the storied Hayes Valley garage location and Freeman hopes the new spot will be big enough to draw folks from Rockridge, Piedmont and Temescal. To keep this garage/auto sales theme going, Freeman say he'd also like to create a showroom and repair shop for home espresso machines.

In addition to the usual Blue Bottle coffee offerings (which does not include espresso to go, mind) there will be carby food options like waffles and toast — the latter of which is gaining steam among the hip coffee shops around town. If we're lucky, Freeman's wife and pastry partner Caitlin Freeman will crank out another one of her inspired menu items. (Speaking of which, Mrs. Freeman a lovely new cookbook out today.)

The ink is still drying on the lease, but expect the new coffee showroom to open late this year at the very earliest.

Previously: All Blue Bottle Coffee coverage on SFist
[InsideScoop]