From the door, the two chains could be one: white walls, pale wood, a long counter with the espresso machine up front and very few seats. Blue Bottle started with a coffee cart at an Oakland farmers market in 2002. % Arabica, the one with the percent-sign logo, opened its first café in Hong Kong in 2013 and made its name in Kyoto a year later. By September 2026 they'd gone in … [Read more...] about % Arabica and Blue Bottle: How Minimalist Coffee Chains Went Global