Sprudge has full coverage today of Starbucks' mighty effort to match and surpass the best of the third wave. The store certainly looks amazing. It opens tomorrow (Dec. 5, 2014), and I hope some locals give us a full report. One thing for sure, there will be a steady stream from the SCAA show next April checking this palace out.

Story here: http://sprudge.com/starbucks-roastery-t ... attle.html

Very cool! As someone who has avoided Starbucks like the plague I might actually have to check this out this weekend when I'm up in Seattle. If I do make it there I will report back.

Fresh will be no problem with the Probat on the floor.

I was browsing the NY Times late this evening and came across this article. Apparently Starbucks is going to enter the high-end coffee market with a new "Reserve" division. Here's the article:

With Market Saturated, Starbucks Looks to High End

Yup, here they come.

The articles make it sound like the offerings will be a kaleidoscope of ever-changing coffees. I wonder if they will attempt to have a flagship blend that is offered in every store (a la "Black Cat") and where the quality level of that will land. 100 stores is a lot of stores to do anything high end with consistency.

(Edit) The Sprudge article mentions a "Pantheon" blend with a prominent trade mark label. Perhaps that answers my question...

I, for one, could not be more excited to try out this location. The quality, craftmanship, and attention to detail appear amazing. Yep, so excited to try the pizza here...Serious Pie from Tom Douglas! Oh wait, they will have coffee, too?

Is it just me, or has no one else noticed that "it's been done", and hundreds and maybe thousands of times before, just not by Starbucks? My first whole bean coffee experience over 40 years ago was at a shop with an in store roaster and your choice of drip brewed or espresso versions of (then) rare and expensive specialty coffees.

If they are going to do this on a typical SB's scale, does it mean a return to baristas, LM's, Mazzers etc. and a move away from superautos?

Alan

I think the whole thing is very exciting, and also a little scary being in the biz. I would certainly look towards their model as the definitive approach for all things high end coffee retail except the actual coffee. They've clearly done their research and implemented the best ideas from across the board.
Of course, not everyone has ~$1,400/sqft to spend on a space, especially not one that's 15Ksqft. I honestly look forward to visiting this flagship.

It's really interesting and impressive. The most impressive thing is after teaching America that milk + burnt coffee = great coffee they ostensibly are trying the opposite position. I don't know how they can really pull it off. Given their size, it's doubtful that whatever share of the specialty coffee industry they can get could move their needle much. I bet on the whole it will help the independent roasters.

I used to subscribe to a service that allowed me to read container manifests, and I was surprised at the time that Starbucks (and Peets) were bringing in the same speciality coffee (other than microlots) that everyone else was buying. They just roast so dark that wherever the coffee came from is moot.

The article I read (from the LA Times) seemed to indicate that people would be drinking right from the roaster. If that's really the case, maybe Starbucks can turn America into a nation of cuppers.