Japan's First Starbucks Reserve Roastery Is Now Open in Tokyo!
Starbucks Reserve Roastery Tokyo has officially opened its doors on February 28, 2019! Not only is it the fifth Reserve Roastery in the world and the first in Japan, but it is also the largest of its kind in the world. This four-story coffee wonderland is an absolute must-visit for all coffee lovers, offering its visitors an exciting Starbucks experience like never before. Read on to find out more!
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About the Starbucks Reserve Roastery
So, what exactly is a "Starbucks Reserve Roastery"?
Well, you can think of it as a spacious, upscale, and interactive coffee wonderland. You can completely immerse yourself in everything coffee, from taste testing coffee brewed from the finest and rarest coffee beans to watching the beans get roasted right before your very eyes. They're not just your average Starbucks store - they're bigger, classier, and offer a more extensive food and drink menu.
The first Reserve Roastery was opened in Starbucks' hometown of Seattle in 2014. With an overwhelmingly positive response, it's opened locations in Shanghai, Milan, and just this past December, New York. Now, it's finally made its way over to Tokyo, Japan!
Tokyo is a particularly special place for Starbucks as it was its 1st international market outside of North America. Starbucks Coffee Japan is constantly churning out delicious drinks and sweets that can only be found in Japan, so it's not surprising that it has such a large presence here. Tokyo's trendy Nakameguro neighborhood is a befitting location for the Reserve Roastery, as it's one of Tokyo's best and most famous places for viewing Japan's iconic cherry blossoms!
Starbucks Reserve Roastery Tokyo
While there are four other Roasteries, and one more on the way in Chicago, Tokyo's four-story Reserve Roastery is officially the largest Starbucks in the world!
In addition to being the first Roastery in Japan, it also has the world's largest Teavana tea bar, and is the first and only Roastery that has been designed and built from the ground up! The exterior was designed in collaboration with Kengo Kuma, an extremely well-known Japanese architect, and the entire Roastery's concept was designed by the Chief Design Officer Liz Muller, who created the design process for Roasteries all over the world.
The interior seamlessly fuses traditional Japanese aesthetics into its elaborate design, from the copper cherry blossom cask inspired by the cherry blossom trees lining the nearby Meguro River, to the wooden origami-inspired ceilings. It's a space where you can feel a gorgeous fusion of Japanese tradition and modern design on each and every floor.
As outlined below, each floor has a distinct theme and offers a completely new experience.
1st Floor
Your trip to the coffee world starts at the main bar on the first floor, where you can completely immerse yourself in coffee and learn everything about it! In this wide, open area, you can see the whole bean-to-brew process and also sample coffee and coffee-based beverages brewed by master baristas.
They'll serve you the freshest full-bodied coffee that there is to offer! Their handcrafted beverages cleverly incorporate coffee with complicated, deep flavors and tastes, like in the Cascara Lemon Sour (1,200 yen), a refreshingly bitter cold brew coffee made with maple syrup and hints of lemon.
You can also interact with the baristas to deepen your understanding about coffee making. Learn about the best brewing methods, ask about the Reserve coffee, talk about the distinct flavor profiles of the different beans in the casks, or just try as many different kinds of drinks as you possibly can!
Tucked near the staircase in the back is the Princi bakery which serves up freshly baked, authentic, handmade Italian artisan breads like focaccia, as well as pizza and salad. One of their popular items is the Focaccia Pizza (980 yen), where delicious slices of focaccia are topped with pomodoro sauce, Italian buffalo mozzarella, oregano, and basil, then finished off with a drizzle of olive oil. This is Japan's first Princi, so make sure to try out these delicious pastries!
2nd Floor
The second floor is where you'll find the world's largest Teavana bar. Here, you'll be taken on a taste trip to explore Japan's traditional teas.
Bask in a brand new tea experience with Japan-exclusive tea beverages like the Pop'n Tea Sakura Jasmine (950 yen), a blended tea consisting of Jasmine Silver Needle Tea and Sakura Allure Tea with the sweet aroma of cherry and hibiscus. This drink is topped with a vibrantly pink popsicle which can be eaten as is or melted into the tea, opening up a new flavor profile.
There are many other unique beverages: Sakura Path (1,200 yen), a drink that brings together tea and sake (Japanese rice wine); TEAVANA Cream Soda Matcha (900 yen), a sweet dessert-like tea inspired by cream soda with the addition of matcha (green tea), sparkling water, a scoop of vanilla ice cream, and a cherry; and Golden-sky Black Tea Latte (950 yen), a unique-looking black tea latte with hints of turmeric and cardamom and a golden cloud of turmeric cotton candy on top.
They have 15 innovative tea beverages, tea desserts, and loose leaf tea blends exclusive to the Tokyo Roastery. Try all these high-quality teas for yourself, and enjoy them paired with a decadent and delicious slice of cake! They'll even tell you which tea matches best with each dessert!
3rd Floor
Like the New York and Milan locations, the Tokyo Reserve Roastery's third floor holds an Arriviamo cocktail bar. This particular bar is actually the first bar to open in Starbucks in Japan. Enjoy alcoholic beverages here on a relaxing weekend or after work with their revolutionary coffee and tea inspired cocktails, wines, and beers!
It's a completely new kind of bar experience, with drinks like the Nakameguro Espresso Martini (2,000 yen), a combination of Japanese vodka, chestnut liqueur, creme de cacao, and espresso. It comes with a original bite-size raw chocolate from Peru that is supplied by "green bean to bar CHOCOLATE", a local chocolate shop in Nakameguro. It's an extremely smooth and delicious blend of espresso and chocolate!
Some other signature cocktails include Spring Shower (2,000 yen), a limited edition champagne with a spray of Reserve cold brew coffee on top and a cherry blossom petal, and the Tokyo Pour Over (3,000 yen), a cocktail made by setting Reserve coffee in a filter, then pouring alcoholic liquors such as whiskey over it. You can find more delicious morsels from Princi on this floor, too, so have some tasty, cheesy, and meaty snacks with your drinks!
There's outdoor seating on the terrace as well. Imagine how beautiful it'll be when the cherry blossoms start blooming in spring?
4th Floor
On the fourth floor, you'll be greeted by the AMU ("amu" or 編む means "to knit together" in Japanese) Inspiration Lounge, a gathering space and event area for the local community.
This area is unique to the Tokyo Roastery, and was built under the concept of bringing together people from all walks of life, as well as encouraging discussions and sparking new ideas towards positive changes in society and the future. It's a thinking space that can be used for a variety of activities, such as casual panel discussions, jam sessions, and coffee tastings!
Basic Information
Starbucks Reserve Roastery Tokyo has over 100 coffees, teas, and merchandise on offer, including 60 varieties of unique beverages that were designed specifically for the Starbucks Reserve Roasteries. Make your way over after a stroll by the river, and become a coffee connoisseur!
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The information in this article is accurate at the time of publication.
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