Starbucks Reserve Roastery, Milan

Starbucks is paying homage to the Italian espresso culture that has fuelled the brand with its first location in Italy. In the words of Howard Schultz, the Roastery is Starbucks ‘coming full circle’.

In Milan’s majestic Poste building in Piazza Cordusio, a square renowned for its neoclassical buildings, the 2,300 square metre Roastery brings the theatre of coffee production to the energetic heart of the city.

Here coffee is celebrated as both product and artform, and all against a backdrop of heritage and innovation. Palladianan mosaic flooring, a bar featuring Tuscan marble bar-tops and traditional wood fluting a soaring glass ceiling creates a dramatic welcome that leans on the store’s undeniable architectural appeal.

The ‘most beautiful Starbucks in the world’, the highly anticipated Milan Roastery is the crown jewel of Starbucks global retail footprint.

A locally built Scolari coffee roaster in bright green forms an eye-catching showpiece that customers can walk around, creating retail theatre in the round. The centrepiece of the store, however, is a vast bronze roasting cask that periodically unfolds and rotates.

Breaking from the brand’s Seattle and Shanghai Roastery colours, the Milan outing features vivid flashes of green and red, most notably on a retro jewel green clackerboard display. It also brings in notes of the high-tech with a floor-to-ceiling brand story etched in brass. This can be viewed ‘as-is’, or in augmented reality through a smartphone.

In addition to serving up small-batch coffee from around the world and fresh baked goods from Rocco Princi, the Roastery also features an Arriviamo aperitivo-inspired bar with more than 100 cocktail creations on offer. Nearby, a theatrical ‘Fire and Ice’ bar handles hand-crafted nitrogen-infused ice-cream.

The Milan Roastery marks the first of several planned Starbucks cafes in Milan; the brand is also working to create educational and career opportunities for local youth.