Starbucks Opening Massive ‘Coffee Theater' Roastery in Meatpacking District

Starbucks describes the Roastery as showing “coffee as theater,” encouraging customer interaction with baristas about how the beans are roasted and the coffee is brewed, and the "art" behind making the drink from beans from around the world.

New Yorkers can find a Starbucks on many, if not most, city street corners, but a newly announced outpost coming to Manhattan would trump all those shops.

Starbucks announced Tuesday it's planning to open a 20,000-square-foot Reserve Roastery and Tasting Room in the Meatpacking District in 2018.

Currently in development at 61 Ninth Avenue, next to Chelsea Market, the store follows the first Starbucks roastery, which opened in December 2014 in Seattle, the company said in a news release.

Starbucks describes the Roastery as showing “coffee as theater,” encouraging customer interaction with baristas about how the beans are roasted and the coffee is brewed, and the "art" behind making the drink from beans from around the world.

"We want this experience to tell our customers that we’re coming to Broadway," Howard Schultz, chairman and chief executive officer of Starbucks, said in the release. 

A promotional video for the Starbucks Roastery in Seattle shows coffee beans shuttling through tubes and beans being roasted in giant machines in what Schultz calls a "Willy Wonka experience." 

The concept has been likened to the restaurant's farm-to-table experience -- but for roasted coffee beans and brews.

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