Oakland's Timeless Coffee reopens after expansion

Timeless Coffee has been a popular neighborhood cafe since it opened three years ago, now offering more sidewalk seating with its expanded space. Photo: Benjamin Seto — Timeless Coffee has been a popular neighborhood café since it opened three years ago, and it now provides more sidewalk seating alongside its expansion. Photo: Benjamin Seto

Vegan pastry fans rejoice. After months of construction and a brief closure to tear down a wall, Piedmont Avenue’s Timeless Coffee Roasters and Bakery reopened July 20 with a larger kitchen and a third pastry case to display its vast array of baked goods and chocolate truffles.

The renovation expanded the café into the space next door, doubling its footprint. It was a much-needed addition — since its opening in 2013, the popular café is often packed with customers who take up all the tables lining the wall in the original narrow space, especially on the weekends.

A third pastry case allows the Timeless bakery to show off more of its offerings. Photo: Benjamin Seto — A third pastry case allows the Timeless bakery to show off more of its vegan offerings. Photo: Benjamin Seto

“We never had the room and the equipment to provide what the bakery always wanted to do,” says owner RJ Leimpeter. “So now that we have a full kitchen in there with more oven space … we can have more people working at once. The goal is to supply a wholesale [business] or open up another store and provide [baked goods] from this store.”

Leimpeter says the bakery hopes to expand its offerings to include treats, such as additional donut flavors, in the coming weeks. Over the weekend Timeless offered a preview of things to come, showcasing a lemon boysenberry cake donut decorated with vibrant purple icing and rainbow sprinkles.

The expansion also added additional roasting space for Leimpeter, who roasts the café’s single-origin coffees in small batches. He plans to add additional varieties of coffee to the Timeless lineup this winter.

Leimpeter is pleased with the addition. “I’m very happy with the end result,” he says. “I’m just figuring out the new flow.”

Take a look at Timeless Coffee’s new space in the photos below.

Preparing espresso drinks at Timeless Coffee. Photo: Benjamin Seto — Preparing an espresso drink at Timeless Coffee. Photo: Benjamin Seto

All baked goods at Timeless Coffee are vegan, including these Double Down Twinkies. Photo: Benjamin Seto — All baked goods at Timeless Coffee are vegan, including these “Double Down” Twinkies. Photo: Benjamin Seto

Single-origin coffee roasts for sale. With the additional space for roasting, Timeless plans to offer more varieties in the future. Photo: Benjamin Seto — Timeless Coffee now has additional space for coffee roasting, and it will offer a greater variety of single-origin beans this winter. Photo: Benjamin Seto

Timeless Coffee’s new space on the left adds to the existing space on the right. Photo: Benjamin Seto — Timeless Coffee’s addition (on the left) doubles the footprint of the café. Photo: Benjamin Seto

Tiramisu cake at Timeless Coffee. Photo: Benjamin Seto — Vegan tiramisu cake at Timeless Coffee. Photo: Benjamin Seto

On the new side of Timeless Coffee, there’s more room to display goods inside an old row boat. Photo: Benjamin Seto — A display of coffee-making supplies on view in Timeless Coffee’s addition. Photo: Benjamin Seto

Lemon boysenberry cake donuts are one of the new items coming from Timeless's vegan bakery. Photo: Benjamin Seto — Lemon boysenberry cake donuts from Timeless’s vegan bakery. Photo: Benjamin Seto

Timeless Coffee is at 4252 Piedmont Ave., Oakland. Open weekdays, 7 a.m to 7 p.m. and weekends, 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. Connect with the cafe on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram

Benjamin Seto is the voice behind Focus:Snap:Eat, where he dishes on food at restaurants and shops in the Bay Area, in his kitchen, and from his culinary adventures.

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