Starbucks is opening premium stores where you can buy coffee flights and cold-brew floats - take a look inside
My visit was more expensive than my average trip to Starbucks. But I paid more for the experience and ambiance than the four cups of coffee I downed. (I left very buzzed.)
Starbucks Reserve bar wants to bring in aspiring coffee aficionados — people who prefer more personal cafés over a big chain.
Oh, and it has ice cream. A dollop of "house-made" vanilla ice cream floats on top. As I drank, the sweet cream melted and turned the coffee into a decadent dessert.
Later, I ordered the the Nitro Cold Brew with Sweet Cream for $9. It's made by infusing a rare, cold-brew micro-blend (whose origin is unknown even to the baristas) with nitrogen gas and pouring at high pressure from a tap, which gives it a frothy, Guinness-like finish.
I struck up a conversation with my neighbors at the bar — a pair of Starbucks baristas who drove down from the East Bay to sample the much-talked-about Sun-Dried Brazil Barinas. They excitedly quizzed the barista about the equipment behind the bar.
My personal favorite was the East Timor Peaberry, a bright, fruity brew that unfolds with floral aromas and a malty sweetness. It uses beans sourced from several remote coffee villages on an island nation in Southeast Asia, according to the card that accompanied it.
She carried the tray around the bar to where I was seated, "in order to avoid casualties," and delivered a glass of sparkling water to "cleanse the palate" between tastings.
It's not the kind of thing you grab on the go. A barista took all of 10 minutes preparing my order. She plated six sample cups and cards that detail the origins of the beans.
We chatted while she worked behind the counter — something I wouldn't normally do.
The barista relocated from a Starbucks store in nearby Woodside, California, to the Reserve bar about three months ago. It's a highly coveted place to work for Starbucks employees.
"I wanted to work here since it opened," the barista told me.
The company invests a significant number of hours in training baristas at Reserve locations. They learn to use the more uncommon brewing equipment and participate in regular tastings to experience the new Reserve coffees, which rotate through the menu every three months.
"I feel like a real barista," she said. "It's like working at a winery. It's so legitimate."
I ordered the Origins flight for $10. It included three coffee varieties of my choice.
I snatched up a menu. It didn't list the typical fare like Frappuccinos, smoothies, and other sugary concoctions masquerading as coffee. Instead, it included short descriptions of the premium, small-batch coffees available and the different brewing methods you could try.
The stool was ergonomically designed for the comfort of my behind. I could sit awhile.
I opted for a seat at the counter so I could get a better look at the brewing methods.
Even the coffee cups show a Gothic side of Starbucks we've never seen.
Dim lighting casts a yellowish, moody hue over the store.
When you first walk in, a few things stand out. The place is huge, with customers gathered around long communal tables and a low, wood-clad bar where you can watch baristas work.
Starbucks has been pouring money into the expansion as it bucks competition from upscale coffee brands like Blue Bottle and Intelligentsia. It wants to show it's no one-trick pony.
And this is a Starbucks Reserve bar — one of 1,000 expected to open by the end of the year.
Source: Fortune
This could be a Starbucks store anywhere in America.
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