This is the world's biggest Starbucks. At 32,000 square feet,
it's a four-story Roastery overlooking the Meguro
River in Tokyo, Japan. Now, we're pretty lucky
that it's quite quiet here at the moment, because
when this place first opened three months ago, it had
a five-hour-long queue, and you needed a ticket to get in. We've come to try some
of the unique coffees they have on the menu and check out their one-of-a-kind
tea and cocktail bars. Let's go inside. The site opened on February 28, 2019, and it's close to the subway
stops of Shibuya and Ebisu. So how does it measure up to the others? It overtakes the 30,000-square-foot
Roastery in Shanghai. The company has just
three other Roasteries: in Seattle, Milan, and New York City. On the second floor is
the Teavana tea bar. Here, you can buy tea, as well as getting some brightly colored hot
drinks and cream sodas. On the third floor is the Arriviamo bar, serving wines, whiskeys, and cocktails. The espresso martini here is
made with chestnut liqueur. Then at the top is the
AMU Inspiration Lounge hosting barista training. It's really beautiful in
here for a coffee shop. There's an origami ceiling that sits above the entire Roastery, designed by Japanese architect Kengo Kuma, the man behind the main host stadium for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. There is a long terrace running around the outside of the building. It overlooks the Meguro River, where cherry blossoms grow in the spring. The menu here has over 100 items, 60 of which are unique to Japan. The coffee is made in a similar
way to other Roasteries. At the base, the beans are
roasted in a 17-meter-tall copper coffee cask. They're transported via
glass and copper tubes that snake through every floor. More than 680,000 kilograms of coffee will be roasted here
for the Japanese market, approximately 31
60-kilogram bags every day. While other Roasteries
might focus on espresso, the Tokyo Starbucks prides itself on its specific way of serving Americano. This is the Americano con Crema, which has a cinnamon-infused foam and a line of demerara sugar. That might look like ice cream, but it's actually whipped milk. This is signature low-fat
milk for the Roastery here. The brown sugar mixed in with it is, yeah, the flavor of the milk
is, like, absolutely gorgeous, with coffee coming through. The ground-floor bar has filter coffee, coffee presses, and cold-brew taps. There's a whiskey barrel-aged cold brew and this nitro cold brew. So in any Irish pub in the UK, you can obviously get Guinness, and this looks like a Guinness, and this has got a bit of
a beer flavor about it. Tastes a little bit Guinnessy. If you like Guinness, then
you'll really like this. This being Japan, the cafe takes pride in serving tea. There are 15 different
types of tea-related drinks and desserts,
with unusual ingredients. This is turmeric cotton candy. So this is a chai tea at the bottom, and then on top of it,
it looks like you've gone to the fun fair or something, because there's actually
a really big pillow of turmeric cotton candy
on the top of this. But I'm gonna have to get
in to the drink somehow, which means going into
it with these chopsticks. Wow, that whole thing has just evaporated inside of the coffee. All of the sugar from the cotton candy has gone straight inside that chai latte, so now it's just like
something I might pick up at another Starbucks, turmeric latte. The cocktail floor looks just like a regular bar. There's a selection of
Japanese whiskeys here, as well as international spirits. The espresso martini is
made with chestnut liqueur, which gives it an extra sweet edge. So what did we think after our visit? It's true that you can't
go two blocks in Tokyo without seeing a Starbucks. They are everywhere, as Japan
has over 1,400 locations, but it's definitely worth a trip to here to have a cold brew
and sit on the terrace, even if you have to wait
a little while for a seat.
My bucket list ✨
It looks so magical in there, and I would love to go visit one day!
Karen walks in and is upset she can’t get her over complicated grossly sweet Frappuccino that she always says wasn’t made correctly. Orders an espresso martini, says she wanted it blended and freaks out when she finds out there actual alcohol in it.
But in all seriousness this place looks awesome! Would love to go someday.