The Coffee Theme Park

 I don't think there is anyone, anywhere, who has not heard the name Starbucks at one time or another in their lives. For those coffee lovers who can not start their day without a Starbuck's coffee, it is a standard drive, wait in line, morning routine. For those others who like to drink coffee but don't need to make a production of it, Starbucks is just another name.

I tend to fall in the latter group.  I like my coffee nice and hot and I have a couple of cups each morning, but driving to Starbucks, now or even before I retired, is not in my daily routine. 

But to be honest and fair, I will admit that while on holidays, I do tend to stop at a Starbucks (most hotels have one on their premises) and get a nice Carmel Macchiato Grande.

 The first Starbucks opened in Pike Place Market in Seattle in 1971 by the three founders J.Baldwin, G. Bowker and Z. Seigl.  

 The three Starbucks founders had two things in common: they were all coming from academia, and they all loved coffee and tea. They invested and borrowed some money to open the first store in Seattle and named it “Starbucks” after the first mate, Starbuck, in Herman Melville’s classic novel Moby Dick.

 By the early 1980s Starbucks had opened four stores in Seattle that stood out from the competitors with their top-quality fresh-roasted coffees. In 1980 Siegl decided to pursue other interests and left the two remaining partners, with Baldwin assuming the role of company president.

Fast forward a few years and Howard Schultz, whom at one time had worked for Starbucks, buys the company from the two remaining founders.

Under Schultz’s guidance, in four years the coffeehouse chain grew from fewer than 20 stores to more than 100. Starbucks entered into a meteoric period of expansion that continued after the company went public in 1992. In 1996 it began opening stores outside North America, and Starbucks soon became the largest coffeehouse chain in the world. By the end of the decade, Starbucks had some 2,500 locations in about a dozen countries.

 Schultz continued to be active in the company, serving as executive chairman until 2018, when he was replaced by Myron Ullman. The world’s largest Starbucks, a Starbucks Reserve Roastery, opened in Chicago in 2019. In 2021 Starbucks had a presence in dozens of countries around the globe and operated over 32,000 stores.

 Let me tell you the Starbucks Reserve Roastery on Michigan Avenue is certainly not your everyday, routine, around the corner, Starbucks. It is by every sense a place to see and experience, and I had to experience.

First Floor: Reserve Coffee Bar

Customers enter the glassy white-washed building on Michigan Avenue into an area for greeting, meeting, and taking a peek at the roasting process, as well as a reserve coffee bar. Patrons can order pour-over coffees and espresso drinks, sandwiches, pastries, and other quick-serve food items, and consume them at standing tables. There’s also a retail space and gift shop here that offers coffee-making equipment, cups, bags of Starbucks’s “rarest coffees,” and clothing. Signage similar to what one finds at a mall dictates what’s on the other levels, which are accessible via elevators, a staircase decorated with a mural of a man harvesting coffee beans, and what designers say is “the first curved escalator in the Midwest.”

Second Floor: Princi Bakery & Cafe

While food items are available on every floor, the largest selection is available here. Acclaimed Italian baker and frequent Starbucks collaborator Rocco Princi’s food is the focus on this level, which is served at a large counter that showcases a daily-changing selection of pastries, breads, sandwiches, pizzas, salads, and more. An open kitchen and its ovens are on display, plenty of seating is available at both the counter and tables, and a conveyor transports food to the other floors. The rarest food item in the roastery is gelato made with liquid nitrogen — this location is the only Starbucks in the country to offer it.

Third Floor: Experiential Coffee Bar

This is where Starbucks offers its most interesting and sophisticated coffee drinks while showcasing “the art, science, and theater of coffee.” Customers can sit at long counters in the center of the room, watch staff make more unusual drinks and talk to baristas, while learning about the brewing methods and process, beans, tasting notes, and more. In addition to the education aspect, there’s also a social component here with the coffee providing a conversation starter. This level could be a destination for people with interest in outside-the box coffee drinks, expanding their palates, and gaining coffee knowledge to nerd out.

Fourth Floor: Arriviamo Cocktail Bar

The fourth floor is the early bet for the most popular aspect of the Chicago roastery. The ability to drink cocktails at a Starbucks is a rarity, especially off a menu that includes exclusive Chicago-themed drinks from three of the city’s top bartenders. In addition to those “Chicago Exclusives” that include the “Roastery Boilermaker,” the menu includes nine signature cocktails that all incorporate a type of coffee as an ingredient, a seasonal holiday cocktail that’s currently a pistachio buttered rum, classic cocktails, plus a selection of wines and local beers.

 

There’s also a fifth-floor rooftop space that’s open seasonally and for private events. It’s closed on this frigid, snowy November day.

Hope you enjoyed this short tour and I hope that next time you are in Chicago you make a point to visit this Starbucks, even if you are not a coffee drinker. I guarantee you the food found here is not found anywhere else. 

(source) 

(source)

 https://www.britannica.com/topic/Starbucks