Starbucks is opening a massive ‘immersive coffee experience’ with a cocktail bar in Chelsea

Starbucks is opening a new cafe in Chelsea on Friday, but it won’t be anything like the stores that dot every block in Manhattan. Called the Starbucks Reserve Roastery, the store on 9th Avenue stretches across 23,00 square feet and three levels and promises to bring an “immersive coffee experience” for java lovers. In addition to having a working coffee roastery, the space features two coffee bars, cocktail bar, bakery, and a terrarium inspired by the Starbucks coffee farm in Costa Rica.

Photo by Connor Surdi for Starbucks

The roastery will sit on the ground floor of 61 Ninth Avenue, an office building designed by Rafel Vinoly Architects. Its ceilings are decorated with undulating squares and rectangles modeled after the building’s exterior.

“The really striking quality of the building itself is that it’s made up of these beautiful, rigid squares and rectangles, pushed and pulled,” Jill Enomoto, the design director at Starbucks, said in a press release. “Where they are pulled in it becomes a terrace and it makes these little gardens. We fell in love with the geometry of the building and riffed off that idea.”

Baristas will sit behind the coffee bars and make special espresso latte drinks, from whiskey barrel-aged cold brew to cardamom lattes. At the “scoop bar,” customers can take home a bag of one of Starbucks’ 14 rotating roasts.

Princi, a “boutique” bakery founded by a Milan-based baker, will serve as the food purveyor. The bakery will offer on-site freshly baked goods, salads, pizzas, focaccias, and desserts.

The craft cocktail bar Arriviamo Bar will feature “expert mixologists” who will serve coffee and tea cocktails, like the Nocino Notte, a cold brew coffee and gin drink.

Photo by Connor Surdi for Starbucks

Bringing some greenery to the space, the roastery will have a terrarium inspired by Hacienda Alsacia, which is Starbucks’ coffee farm in Costa Rica. “It’s a beautiful surprise down there,” Enomoto said. “You could be wandering around and end up in a pocket of Costa Rica.”

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All photos courtesy of Starbucks