Well like I said on the last page, friend has been to the Reserve shop by her in Seattle a couple times and said its kinda mediocre let alone quite expensive. Better than regular Charbucks, but just near as good as good shops/roasters and why even go there when the other places are not only cheaper but much better lol. All that money, all that equipment, buying expensive lots of beans... and yet the coffee is still mehhh. Any other good shop/roaster would have made a place like this coffee drinking mecca, *bucks issue seems to be they just don't know how to bring together roasting/barista training etc, they can throw a ton of money at stores and equipment like these Reserve shops, but don't know how to bring it together. She said its awesome inside, but thats it... why pay all that $ for still mediocre coffee. A place like this should be producing top notch drinks all around.

Starshmuck's and Peet's have trained at least two generations of palates by now...your average coffee drinker doesn't see their coffee as burned so much as 'full flavor'. I remember the first time I had a high quality, lighter roast after 15 years of the aforementioned shops' coffee, I was more hung up on how light it looked in the cup than I was focusing on how it tasted.

Anyway, the flagship Starshmucks is literally one block from Victrola's main roastery, so I always chuckle when I pass the Starbucks. Awesome coffee is just up the street.

Tweet by Kyle Glanville two days ago:

I maybe just had the only fully extracted espresso I've ever had in Seattle at Starbucks Reserve

grog wrote:Starshmuck's and Peet's have trained at least two generations of palates by now...your average coffee drinker doesn't see their coffee as burned so much as 'full flavor'. I remember the first time I had a high quality, lighter roast after 15 years of the aforementioned shops' coffee, I was more hung up on how light it looked in the cup than I was focusing on how it tasted.

Anyway, the flagship Starshmucks is literally one block from Victrola's main roastery, so I always chuckle when I pass the Starbucks. Awesome coffee is just up the street.

Sad but true. It parallels to a conversation I was having earlier today - people are now conditioned to think that 1920x1080 is a high computer monitor resolution when I was using 1600x1200 in 2003 before "HD" was a thing.

I finally made it to the new Seattle Reserve store last Sunday. I suggest people "reserve" judgment until they visit the "Experience" bar on the lower lever. I had a very impressive Yrgacheffe from a vac pot.

The staff has been recruited from Starbucks shops all over the country and required high recommendations. Then they were trained by Anne Nylander, whom Starbucks recruited away from SCAA specifically for the job. The shop may be over the top with its range of equipment, but the coffee is serious.

The Kochere they are serving to every "coffee person" that comes in the store. Because its the only coffee thats not Dark(its stlill has 3 mins development til drop though). I had it as espresso/french press/chemex while I was in Seattle for expo, and I think people are being generous when they say its good. I thought it was perfectly ok as Chemex, gross as a french press, and somewhere between bad and ok as espresso. If you walk up 20 feet from the Willy Wonka starbucks you can have a killer shot of the Yirgz pulled at Victorla. I dont have any vendetta against Starbucks, just calling it like I see it.

Yes, I walked past the person offering free samples in the upper level as I entered and continued past the long line at the upper level coffee bar. The serious stuff was on the lower level, not over-roasted (and not cheap).

Marshall wrote:I finally made it to the new Seattle Reserve store last Sunday. I suggest people "reserve" judgment until they visit the "Experience" bar on the lower lever. I had a very impressive Yrgacheffe from a vac pot.

The staff has been recruited from Starbucks shops all over the country and required high recommendations. Then they were trained by Anne Nylander, whom Starbucks recruited away from SCAA specifically for the job. The shop may be over the top with its range of equipment, but the coffee is serious.

I don't know, so far I know two people that have been there, one quite a few times trying different drinks. Both said it was mehhh, better then the regular stores, but not as good as other roasters/shops around the area. Kinda echoes reviews I've seen from others that like coffee (meaning ones that would go to other shops and not the normal Bucks folks). Ones got some pics of the place on FB, it does look awesome.

I went last week and tried two free samples. The first was brewed hot, a Yirgacheffe that still had some acidity but the roast was botched so what should have been floral high notes was an intense and woody bitterness. HOWEVER they next offered me a cold brew and it was really good. I couldn't detect any flaws Here's the label.



The place is like Willy Wonka's chocolate factory with employees everywhere looking busy. If they pull off what they're branding here I wouldn't underestimate them. But maintaining high quality control over many stores worldwide and changing corporate culture are challenges most companies fail.

Here are some photos for your amusement. This is their fantasy land, but it's also a career opportunity for the team members selected to work here.

From what people, by which I mean serious coffee people, are saying about the place, it sounds like they're intermittently roasting and brewing excellent coffee and, in general, raising their game for the mass market. This is significant. With their money and market influence, they can move things significantly in directions that our favorite local coffee shops can't even dream of.

What's interesting to me about this is how it will impact what it means, financially, to be a Barista. If Starbucks can make a mass market success out of doing specialty coffee right, then they're going to need a well trained staff to make it happen. Can they get those people without paying them middle class wages? I don't see how.