The Seattle Roastery | Starbucks Reserve - The best Starbucks in the world
The Seattle Roastery Starbucks Reserve front door
The Seattle Roastery Starbucks Reserve wooden trim
My favourite drink in the world is coffee and my favourite coffee shop in the world is Starbucks Reserve in Seattle. Starbucks Reserve is a love letter that Howard Schultz the CEO of Starbucks wrote to the world. He recently stepped down again as the CEO of Starbucks to become the board member that directly oversees the operations of “Reserve” brand. Quoting Liz Muller SVP Creative, Global Design and Innovation.
“[Howard] described a surreal place where the love for coffee must come through. It needed to be both educational and emotional. 'Seductive' was the word he used."
My home, the pacific Northwest, is home to a huge amount of brands with cult like following. Lululemon & MEC from Vancouver, Stumptown coffee & Nike from Portland and Boeing, Costco, Amazon and Starbucks from Seattle.
Starbucks rooted as a coffee roasting company and then into the famed first store in Pike Place market. In Howard’s book- Onwards that's straight from the gut, he talks about how he fell in love with the Milan coffee culture when he was there for a conference. He realized that there was no such place in USA at that time. To follow his heart, he started a small coffee shop called Il Giornale in Seattle and also Vancouver and eventually bought out Starbucks where he used to work. “Onwards” is a beautiful story about the struggles of starting/growing/managing a company and how Howard followed his passion and then retired from Starbucks. Then comes 2007 when Starbucks was not doing so well from the massive expansion. Howard eventually decided to come back to the company he loved so much to revive it. With the revival of Starbucks came the Starbucks Reserve brand.
Situated on the outskirts of Seattle downtown core and close to Capitol is a renovated warehouse with over 100 years of history. From the outside, it looks quite normal but once you step closer, many details will attract you.
First, the door. It is extremely heavily and beautiful. I am not sure what type of hardwood is used. It looks like dark walnut and the door is beautifully veneered or maybe it’s just solid hardwood. Based on the weight, it probably is solid. The devil is in the details, and there are so many details in the store it’s exciting to explore 15,000 square feet dedicated to coffee.
The Seattle Roastery Starbucks Reserve cast iron and wood front door
According to Liz Muller who had to execute Howard’s vision:
“Passion has to overtake common sense, because otherwise people would have said it couldn’t be done,” said Muller. “Everything is possible; it’s just a matter of figuring out how to do it
The Seattle Roastery Starbucks Reserve mission
Below are some of the attention to details that is unrivaled by many stores.
There are even chairs for the little ones.
The Seattle Roastery Starbucks Reserve wooden baby chairs
Once you enter the store,your nostrils are struck by a strong and beautiful aroma of freshly roasted coffee. Howard remembers the smell at each Milanese coffee shop and he wants each Starbucks store to be filled by the same beautiful aroma. When he came back to help Starbucks after his retirement, he even cared to make sure that the smell of breakfast sandwich cheese does not overpower the smell of coffee.
You’re also going to be greeted by a barista wearing the signature black apron. Baristas at normal Starbucks wear black shirt with the green apron but baristas who has passed through the “master of coffee” equivalent training at Starbucks can wear the reserve apron. Towards the right ( called the decompression zone in retail, the place where shoppers decompress right after entering the store) is an area where you can buy coffee and Starbucks related products. Normal Starbucks stores already have good quality merchandise for sale and the Reserve store sells the Chanels and Ferraris of coffee gear.
As you walk further towards the right of the store is the famous Seattle pizza shop called the Serious Pie. I have not been to Italy but Serious Pie serves the best Neapolitan pizza i’ve ever had. Considering the second best pizza i’ve had was in Grapevine Texas where the owner spent 10 years mastering the skill of pizza in Modena, Serious Pie is serious about their pizzas. The crust is fermented and very crisp thanks to the full sized brick oven. Howard is very picky about the smell of the store as he wants the store filled with the beautiful aroma of freshly roasted coffee and i’m sure the ventilation from the pizza oven was given special treatment as you cannot smell pizza unless you’re in the Serious Pie section of the store.
The Seattle Roastery Starbucks Reserve restaurant
*Note, I’ve been told by the Serious Pie staff that it no longer operates at the Starbucks Reserve store. Howard wanted Serious Pie to grow internationally with the Reserve brand but the owner decided to stay local in Seattle. The space is now filled by food designed by Seattle chef Tom Douglas*
The reason why the Reserve store smells mesmerizing is because roasting happens on site. There’s even a hand-hammered copper coffee silo. I don’t know how many hands it took to hammer this beautiful thing but i hope it’s more than one.
The Seattle Roastery Starbucks Reserve coffee roaster
The Seattle Roastery Starbucks Reserve solari board showing the coffee today, takes you back in time to the golden age of travel
Freshly roasted beans are shot up to vacuum pipes and dropped into the central brewing area, you can see and hear the beans being shot through the pipes. You can choose from different beans for your drink. Blends are more complex in flavors and have different layers of taste whereas Single origin coffees are usually more sour and highlights certain traits of a bean, for example, the earthly notes. I am a fan of a good espresso blend.
It’s truly a feast to the senses. The aroma of beans, the sound of beans through the pipes with carefully curated music in the background and the clean visual lines in the store makes the tongue dance with the coffee.
The Seattle Roastery Starbucks Reserve Pipes bring freshly roasted beans to the central brewing area
The Seattle Roastery Starbucks Reserve You can choose the different types of espresso for you drink. Some are blends, some are single origin ones to highlight certain flavors.
The main coffee brewing area
There are a variety of coffee that can be ordered here. There are four 110 pound $11,000 USD Clover machine brewed coffee(BTW, Starbucks bought this Seattle based Clover company), reverse siphon coffee, hand brewed coffee, Slayer espresso machine produced lattes and cappuccinos and the five giant containers that receive freshly roasted coffee from the roasters. All the gear here are the creme de la creme of the coffee industry. Slayer espresso machines are made in USA by coffee afficcionados and the 55 pound Victoria Arduino Mythos one grinder. Grinders are extremely important. Under heavy use environments, most grinders will start overheating and your coffee grounds will be inconsistent and you will get a sub par shot regardless of how good your espresso machine. The Mythos one grinder has huge motors and burrs, ensuring that the burrs does not over heat. That is why it weights 55 pounds.
The Seattle Roastery Starbucks Reserve Victoria Arduino commercial blenders with extremely large motors and in need of it's own ventilation fan. Each grinder holds each of the 5 types of beans stored in the cans.
The Seattle Roastery Starbucks Reserve Slayer machine made in USA
The Seattle Roastery Starbucks Reserve Clover machine. Thats close to 600 pounds of machine and $60K USD for an unmatched brewed coffee. Clover coffee claims to make the world's best cup of brewed coffee. Each machine can only produce one cup at a time.
The Seattle Roastery Starbucks Reserve reverse siphon
The Seattle Roastery Starbucks Reserve attention to details
The espresso based coffee brewing hierarchy is this:
Good coffee bean > grinder > barista > espresso machine
Most coffee shops got it wrong, starting from a super expensive espresso machine and using generic beans. The Mythos one grinder with Slayer espresso machine is a deadly combo. I used to sell commercial coffee gear during college years and i’m smitten by the war closet used at Starbucks Reserve.
The Seattle Roastery Starbucks Reserve latte Baristas nailed the latte - beautiful crema(the brown coffee oil) and the temperature of the milk is not too hot. If the barista frothed the milk for too long, the milk is burned and no longer sweet.
There is also a selection of pastries, chocolates to pair with coffee. You can also get a coffee flight ( a few coffee tasted together) and get it paired with chocolates. Similar to how sommeliers at restaurant pairing foods with wines to highlight certain flavors. Chocolate truffles anyone? Btw, the chocolate is from my favourite Seattle chocolatier - Fran's located under the Four Seasons hotel.
The secondary coffee brewing area down the stairs
Down the stairs is a more intimate area where you can enjoy coffee. There are more seating here and towards the end is a corporate/group area where you can reserve the space. You’ll notice the perfectly straight wooden pillars in the background.
The Seattle Roastery Starbucks Reserve second bar
The Seattle Roastery Starbucks Reserve Il Giornale
I was delighted to find a menu from Howard’s first coffee chain “Il Giornale”. Il Giornale was the name of a Milan newspaper back in the 80s. There’s also a well kept Victoria Arduino machine with the iconic eagle on top. Il Giornale was started by Howard when his wife was pregnant with their first child. He was not paying himself a salary and raising funds to start the coffee shop. His father in law respectfully mentioned that as the to be father of the child, he should find a real job as opposed to following his hobby. As an entrepreneur, that voice resonates with me and it takes your entire soul and more to keep following your dreams. I constantly re-read Howard’s book as a reminder not to give up.
Tips:
There is another coffee bar section at the very end of the store on the lower floor, try to find spots there as it is more quiet
Try to avoid the weekend rush as the cruise ships come in and thousands swarm the downtown core area
Late at night provides a different vibe and there are also food and alcoholic beverages
Try to avoid lunchtime
If driving, there are street parking nearby and Seattle is free parking for Sundays. There are also a few parking lots within a few blocks walk
The bathroom is gender neutral, just find an empty stall and walk in
Official website : https://www.starbucksreserve.com/en-us