Starbucks’ New York Roastery is like a Willy Wonka coffee factory

Gone are the days when you could walk into a cafe and simply ask for a “coffee”. So intricate have our caffeinated treats become, such orders today get you little more than looks of despair.

Starbucks’ New York Roastery suggests that that’s not going to change anytime soon.

Spread across three floors in the city’s meatpacking district, the coffee giant’s fourth roastery combines wood, copper and concrete to create an “immersive coffee experience” that pays home to the area’s industrial past.

The recently opened venue is Starbucks’ fourth roastery, and comes complete with a 907kg two-tailed copper siren, made by Brooklyn artist Max Steiner. Picture: Matt Glac, Starbucks

There are five bars – two for coffee, and one each for cocktails, takeaway beans, and pastries – a terrarium comprising coffee plants, ferns and philodendrons, and a nine-metre hammered copper cask, the largest fully-operational coffee roasting plant on the island of Manhattan.

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Starbucks CEO Kevin Johnson described the space as one of a kind.

“We designed the Roastery as the pinnacle experience around all-things-coffee, and there is nothing else like it in the world. With premium coffees, teas, mixology and the iconic Milanese Princi Bakery, it serves as a Starbucks brand amplifier and a platform for future innovation,” he said.

Boasting five bars, the Roastery hired one of New York’s best mixologists to put together a coffee-inspired cocktail list. Picture: Matt Glac, Starbucks

“It is the ultimate Starbucks Experience and an unforgettable way to connect with our customers.”

Overhead, thousands of square and rectangle shapes mimic the building’s geometric exterior, and copper pipes shoot freshly roasted beans directly from the cask to two of the coffee bars, where customers can order everything from regular lattes and cappuccinos to cardamom long blacks (two shots of ristretto poured over hot water and cardamom syrup, served with a cardamom sugar rim) and whiskey barrel-aged cold brews.

Elsewhere, a wood-burning fireplace keeps things warm in winter, a 907kg copper depiction of a siren tips its hat to the company logo, and an expansive retail store means Starbucks fanatics will always be able to find something new to add to their branded collections.

The roastery’s small terrarium contains vegetation commonly found in Costa Rica, where Starbucks has a farm. Picture: Matt Glac, Starbucks

Spread across roughly 2137 metres, it’s nothing short of a mecca for coffee lovers.

“We’ve designed a space where the excitement and dynamic activity of the neighbourhood is mirrored in the roastery. We want our customers to come in and feel very inspired,” said Starbucks’ chief design officer Liz Muller.

“You can have a party here. You can meet your love here. You can come here on your own. You can come here when you’re visiting the neighbourhood. You could come here as your daily ritual. I think this does a little bit of all of that, and it is very much New York.”