The Starbucks Coffee Company announced the opening of its first Reserve Roastery and Tasting Room in the Capitol Hill neighborhood of Seattle on Monday, on the company鈥檚 web site.
The flagship Reserve Roastery will be situated nine blocks away from the very first Starbucks shop at Pike Place Market. It will feature an open-air assembly line, allowing customers to watch the roasting process and to choose from one of six brewing methods, including 鈥淧our Over,鈥 鈥淐hemex,鈥 鈥淔rench Press,鈥 鈥淪iphon,鈥 鈥淓spresso,鈥 and 鈥淐lover-brewed鈥 coffee. Ultimately, the company plans to make tasting-room style layout a part of at least 100 stores, starting in Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco and Washington, D.C. Starbucks wants to make the Reserve line available at 1,500 locations globally. An additional Roastery is planned for Asia in 2016.
鈥淭his is a real-life Willy Wonka experience with coffee as the heart and soul, where customers will see coffee being moved through the roasting process right before their eyes,鈥 Liz Muller, vice president of Concept Design for Starbucks, . 鈥淲e have opened up the world of sourcing, roasting and brewing so that our customers at any one point are only feet away from the theater and artistry.鈥
At a time when Starbucks鈥 digital payment system is taking the lead鈥攍ast year, 90 percent of all mobile payments in the U.S. were made at a Starbucks, 鈥攖he new addition is a step forward in the company鈥檚 brick-and-mortar efforts, and represents a bid to keep up with luxury coffee roasters. Tom Douglas, a chef known for his acclaimed restaurants in Seattle and Portland, has been recruited to develop a food menu to complement the coffees offered at the Reserve Roastery.