Tag: Starbucks

The Star of Milan

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Coffee shops in Italy are plentiful and it has to be pretty hard to compete.

So how does Starbucks open up a location in Milan and attract people who are willing to wait in line to enter and drink their special blends when there are so many authentic coffee shops throughout the city?

I have never been a coffee drinker…give me a Diet Pepsi in the morning and I am all good! But when I had the opportunity to stop by the Starbucks Reserve Roastery while on one of my layovers, I said yes, as I was dying to see why people stand in line to enter the beautiful…and historic…Poste building in Piazza Cordusio.

The Starbucks Reserve Roastery opened on September 6, 2018 and was created to pay homage to the Italian espresso culture that inspired Howard Schultz to create the Starbucks Experience, 35 years ago. Not just your ordinary coffee shop, the Reserve Roastery is a total experience which captivates your imagination and attention!

The first thing I noticed was the size. All 25,00 square feet of it!

But it wasn’t just big…it was beautiful…and colorful…and elegant…and fascinating…

Taking our place in line at the main bar, we perused the menu and made our order decisions. Serving everything from espresso, to nitro draft to cold brew to tea to hot chocolate…all is made to order and so worth the wait. Having ordered a chilly cookies and cream Frappuccino concoction, I sat at the bar with my friends, near the Scolari coffee roaster, the heart of the roastery, and savored my drink.

Cool music was playing giving it more of a club feel, but every now and then, a clattering noise from above caught our attention. Copper tubing, snaking its way across the ceiling, transported coffee beans to their holding cannisters at the main bar. How cool it that? A coffee bean highway!

And that’s not all. Nooks and crannies were filled with sculpture and murals lined the stairway leading down to the beautifully equipped bathroom, constructed of locally sourced marble and up, to the ArriviamoTM Bar where the vibe is definitely more about drinking, however, not coffee. If specialty cocktails are your thing, this is the place to be…the 30 foot long marble bar is the working space where mixologists create their passions.

The Princi Bakery occupies the left side of the space and houses a wood-fired oven, the tool for making proper bread and the nearby gift shop offers Starbucks merchandise as well as rare and exotic high-quality Arabica coffees sourced from around the world that you can take home and make for yourself.

.Many people choose to sit in the outdoor space, perfect for people watching, but I think staying indoors gives more insight into the art and science of coffee making in Italy!

I am still not a coffee drinker, but I would definitely visit Milan’s Starbucks Reserve Roastery again!

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Starbucks Reserve Roastery