Starbucks Launches New Up-Market Concept Store
Just 100 of Starbucks new Reserve® Roastery and Tasting Rooms to open globally.
Starbucks has just announced the opening of its first Reserve® Roastery and Tasting Room in Seattle.
The new store will be focussed on roasting, coffee education and increasing the availability of its small-lot Reserve® coffees.
The Seattle store will see 2 coffee roasters at work, with freshly roasted beans being delivered to a whole bean scooping table or a custom made bar where baristas will brew beverages for customers in one of six different ways: Pour over, Chemex, French press, Siphon, Espresso and Clover-brewed coffee.
The Room will also incorporate digital innovations, such as a "Clacker" board with mechanical flaps displaying what's brewing and by whom, a Coffee Passion Projection Wall displaying images of coffee at the company's farm in Costa Rica, and in the next year the debut of iBeacon technology, which will allow customers to get information on freshly brewed coffee via their smart-phone.
Speaking of the new store, Starbucks chief Howard Schultz says "This is the fulfilment of a decade long dream... that will create for our customers the most immersive, sensory demonstration of how we source, roast and craft the finest coffee from around the world... This is the moment of the next generation of Starbucks".
While more stores are slated for the US next year, and Asia in 2016, there are no plans to open a Reserve® shop in the UK.
