Starbucks Reserve Roastery and Tasting Room Opens

Everyone knows Capitol Hill has been changing face: old buildings are being torn down to their facades, beloved venues like the Harvard Exit Theatre have closed and a slew of hip eateries are taking over old auto-row-era buildings, many of them with multiple offerings under one roof.

The neighborhood is home to several such multi-purpose places, including Melrose Market, the recently opened Trove, Rachel Yang’s four-concepts-in-one restaurant, the Central Agency Building that houses John Sundstrom’s relocated Lark along with Bitter/Raw and a sandwich shop, and the upcoming Chophouse Row, which will feature everything from a cheese shop to a TBD Matt Dillon concept. This week, Starbucks adds its name to that list with its first Starbucks Reserve Roastery and Tasting Room. 

Located in one of the repurposed 1920s auto-row buildings along Pike Street in the space formerly occupied by Utrecht Art Supplies and a Volvo dealership, the 15,000-square-foot space has been gutted and redesigned and is now an open concept, three-level ode to coffee that provides a glimpse inside the company’s production factory. The Roastery also houses Tom Douglas’ third Serious Pie location.

Guests can order coffee creations with their pizza. The collaboration with the Seattle-based chef is based on a long-standing relationship—Douglas originally helped develop Starbucks’ Thanksgiving blend.

The Roastery is in full operation, but unlike a traditional Starbucks, you can’t order a pumpkin spice or eggnog latte at the café bar; typical Starbucks libations are not on the menu. Instead, the high-end Reserve line of coffees dominates the list of options, and handcrafted beverages are brewed via six different options, including pour-over, French press and its Clover brewing method. Visitors are encouraged to linger, speak with working Coffee Masters, describe their preferences, learn about different coffee-making methods and try out a few. It is also the only location in the world that roasts Starbucks’ Reserve Pantheon coffee. 

The Roastery “honors the integrity of the journey” from the bean to the mug, highlighting international farmers as well as local artisans like Glassybaby, which created a line of drinker cups for the Roastery’s opening.

Visitors will get to see the roasting process, watch beans get bagged and moved along a conveyor belt, or follow fresh beans as they move through copper pipes that soar along the ceiling in a shape that, by design, resembles latte art.

In fact, every detail of the building tips its hat to a facet of the coffee industry. “We really want to geek out on coffee,” says Starbucks’ lead designer Andre Kim, whose passion for the project is evident in the store’s details. Five glass and copper bean silos, which he calls “gems” to signify their rarity, adorn the café bar, and overhead a train station-style Solari Board, nicknamed the “clacker,” updates the day’s offerings in real time.

The Roastery will be a destination landmark, a place to recognize coffee making as an art, not as the quick grab-and-go drink we have come to know.

Daily 7:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. Capitol Hill, 1124 Pike St. starbucks.com/roastery