What to know about the astonishing Starbucks Reserve Roastery in Shanghai

The world’s largest, most beautiful Starbucks yet opened its doors yesterday in Shanghai at 30,000 square feet.

Featuring everything from Starbucks longest coffee bar, to the world’s only 3-D printed tea bar, and Starbucks first Augmented Reality experience, the roastery takes coffee lovers through a one-of-a-kind coffee journey that is sure to impress.

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The Roastery in Shanghai is the epitome of coffee and retail innovation for Starbucks. As China is at the forefront of Starbucks vision for global growth and innovation, it was the perfect place for the largest Starbucks to open. China is the company’s fastest growing market with more than 3,000 stores across more than 130 cities.

On Dec 5, two of the world’s most innovative retail titans – Howard Schultz and Jack Ma – came together to celebrate the opening of Starbucks Reserve Roastery Shanghai.

 

1. Officially the largest, most beautiful Starbucks® location in the world at nearly 30,000 square feet (2,700 square meters). FUN FACT: The Starbucks Reserve Roastery Shanghai is twice the size of the flagship Reserve® Roastery in Seattle and the equivalent of 40 average NYC apartments.
2. Home to three coffee experience bars, one of which is 88 feet (26.9 meters) long, making for the longest Starbucks coffee bar in the world. FUN FACT: Known as the main engine of the Roastery, the coffee bar was handcrafted by premiere Chinese artisans and references the unique roasting curve of individual coffee beans.
3. Mirroring the signature copper cask at the inaugural Reserve Roastery in Seattle, at entry, customers will be greeted by the stunning site of a two-story, 40-ton copper cask adorned with over 1,000 traditional Chinese chops, or stamps, hand-engraved to narrate the story of Starbucks and our Reserve coffee. FUN FACT: The iconic cask connects to the three coffee bars with pneumatic copper piping, replenishing all the roasted Starbucks Reserve® coffee silos. 
4. Unique beverage menu items that cannot be found at any other Starbucks in China. FUN FACT:  Over 100 beverages are on the Roastery menu including Teavana tea infused with nitrogen as well as a new take on tea brewing with the Steampunk, which uses steam to extract unique flavors from each tea leaf. 
5. Overall design of the space inspired by coffee and created exclusively in China for China – it will never be repeated. FUN FACTS: Some of the key design features include a ceiling consisting of 10,000 handmade wooden hexagon-shaped tiles inspired by the locking of an espresso shot on an espresso machine.  
6. First Princi^TM bakery and café location in Asia, with more than 30 skilled Chinese bakers and chefs. FUN FACT: More than 80 menu items will be baked fresh onsite daily, bringing acclaimed Italian baker Rocco Princi’s artisanal Italian recipes to customers in China for the first time.
7. The new Shanghai Roastery features China’s first Starbucks® Teavana Bar, a reimagined tea experience supported by the world’s only tea bar made entirely from 3-D printed recycled materials. FUN FACT: The light jade coloring of the Teavana Bar was inspired by ancient green clay teapots and the stains formed by brewing over time. Starbucks will continue China’s rich brewing tradition alongside tea curators as they practice mixology with the help of the Steampunk system’s nitrogen flavor extraction.    
8. First Starbucks Reserve Roastery outside the U.S., and only second Reserve Roastery to date. FUN FACT: Additional Roasteries are slated to open in Milan and New York in 2018, and Tokyo and Chicago in 2019.
9. Starbucks first-ever in-store Augmented Reality Experience. FUN FACT: Designed by Starbucks, and powered by Alibaba, the Shanghai Roastery will become the first Starbucks location, and the first-of-its kind in China, to seamlessly integrate a real-time, in-store and online customer experience. Roastery customers are invited to immerse themselves in the first Starbucks augmented reality (AR) experience by simply pointing their phones at key features around the Roastery to bring to life information about the Starbucks bean-to-cup story. Guided through the space by a custom-designed AR “tour-guide,” customers can unlock virtual badges and a unique Roastery filter to commemorate their visit.
10. China is Starbucks fastest growing market with a new store opening every 15 hours. FUN FACT: Starbucks has had a presence in China for more than 18 years, now with more than 3,000 stores across 136 cities, over 600 of which are in Shanghai, the largest number of stores globally of any city where Starbucks has a presence.