Starbucks Opens Coffee 'Sanctuary' in Indonesia
With its Reserve Roastery locations, Starbucks has been focused on creating larger-than-life coffee destinations in major cities coffee-consuming like New York, Shanghai, Milan, and Seattle (of course). But the international coffee chain is also creating immersive experiences in coffee growing regions, as well. Such was the case last year when the company opened a visitor center in Costa Rica, and over the weekend Starbucks debuted another concept in Bali, Indonesia dubbed a “coffee sanctuary.”
The location doesn’t just echo the region’s coffee-growing reputation in general, but the fact that Starbucks has been sourcing coffee from Sumatra for all four decades of its existence. At the heart of the Starbucks Dewata Sanctuary is a Reserve Bar (more on how that’s different from a Roastery or regular Starbucks here), but just about everything else is meant reconnect visitors with the coffee growing and harvesting process, from plant to pour.
“Visitors enter through an arabica coffee farm, try their hand at coffee bean de-pulping and washing during harvest season, dry and rake green coffee beans, visit budding seedlings in the nursery, take in the store’s locally-inspired design featuring traditional Balinese craft and Indonesian art, and enjoy the more than 100 Dewata-exclusive handcrafted beverages, food and merchandise, including the Lavender Latte,” a description from Starbucks reads.
That farm is only 1,000 square feet which may not seem huge but is representative of 90 percent of Indonesian farms, according to the company. One the first floor of the 20,000 square-foot facility, customers can interact with a video wall where they will learn about the coffee harvesting process. The Sanctuary will also offer tastings with hot water poured over beans, recreating the process by which the quality is assured by tasting professionals. A muraled courtyard invites visitors to experience the location both indoors and outdoors, while the second floor houses the first ever coffee seedling nursery to be located within a Starbucks.
Speaking the seedlings, Starbucks took the opportunity of the grand opening announcement to also state its commitment to donating 100,000 seedlings annually through its partnership with the Farmer Support Center in Sumatra.
While you plan your trip to Bali, for now, you can sip on Sumatra Single Origin, one of three bean options Starbucks will be featuring from Indonesia and Papua New Guinea for its seasonal Passport Series this winter.
