The first Starbucks is a tourist attraction and this new bean to cup roaster is going to be their next stop. While there are quite a few other bean to cup roasteries, like Vivace, Ladro, and Stumptown, none of them turn the art of roasting beans into a spectacle. And this is exactly what the Starbucks Roastery is – grand spectacle. Like the Cirque du Soleil of coffee and worth the time spent watching and admiring.
I’ve been on roaster tours in Hawaii, but none have the copper, the library, or the wiz bang of Starbucks. Starbucks is also roasting beans on a massive scale, so their equipment is twice as large and twice as shiny for display. Of course you have to try the coffee while you’re here, along with the pastries, and to really make an event out of it, stay for Serious Pie pizza. Even if your palette isn’t sensitive enough to tell the difference between the different beans, you can still enjoy the experience here in learning about how beans are roasted and partaking in the coffee ritual.
If you’re a coffee connoisseur, they offer a brew flight and a bean flight. However, unless you can drink 32 oz. of coffee in a sitting, you might want to share with a friend.
expect to wait about 45 minutes to order your coffee; skip the line if you just want to walk around the roastery, go to the store, or go to serious pie