Five things to know about world’s largest Starbucks
Starbucks is upping the coffee game again. The Seattle-based chain is opening its largest location on the planet to date — and claiming it’s the most beautiful.
The new Starbucks Reserve Roastery, part of the company’s new line of upscale coffee venues, opens Wednesday in Shanghai.
China is Starbucks’ fastest growing market with more than 3,000 stores in 136 cities, according to the company. Shanghai has more than 600 Starbucks locations, the largest number in any city in the world where the chain has a presence.
Here are ways the new Shanghai store stands apart:
Size. It’s huge. This caffeine mecca is 30,000 square feet — twice the size of the Seattle Reserve Roastery, the only other one in existence so far. That leaves a lot of room to fill — even in the planet’s most populous country. Starbucks is describing the Shanghai location as a “fully immersive, sensorial coffee experience.”
Augmented reality. AR becomes the new reality for Starbucks customers here. They point their mobile devices at various points around the store to get an AR tour about how coffee goes from bean to cup. There are also virtual badges to unlock and a Roastery filter to commemorate their visits.
Cool brews. The coffee menu includes brews from beans grown in China’s Pu’er in Yunnan Province. Customers may also watch the brewing process. Plus, there’s an onsite Princi bakery.
Tea curators. Baristas in the Teavana Bar are known as “tea curators.” They serve nitrogen-infused tea and tea-based beverages inspired by mocktails. Amazing decor. The space includes a ceiling of 10,000 handmade wooden hexagon-shaped tiles inspired by an espresso machine; a two-story, 40-ton hand-engraved copper cask that uses pneumatic copper piping to refill the store’s coffee silos; the longest Starbucks coffee bar in history, measuring
88 feet; and a tea bar made out of 3-D printed recycled material.
Shares of Starbucks stock closed at
$58.76, up $1.44 or 2.51%, on Monday.