How Starbucks' coffee sanctuary pays homage to Indonesia's coffee culture
The coffee giant’s largest Reserve store in Southeast Asia also includes a farm for customers to witness the coffee-making process.
Indonesia is known to be the fourth largest Arabica coffee growing region in the world, where coffee cultivation had already begun in the late 1600s.
Paying tribute to that reputation, Starbucks unveiled their Starbucks Dewata Coffee Sanctuary in Bali, Indonesia. This is also the coffee giant’s largest Reserve Bar to date in Southeast Asia, measuring at 20,000 sq ft.
“We began sourcing Indonesian coffees more than four decades ago and have always been struck by the sense of community and care for the coffee journey at every step,” Starbucks CEO Kevin Johnson said.
The coffee sanctuary is the tenth Reserve Bar store in Indonesia and the first in Bali. It houses a 13-meter teak Reserve bar and a 1,000 square foot coffee tree farm.
“The Starbucks Dewata Coffee Sanctuary amplifies our passion for the coffee journey, our ongoing commitment to Indonesia’s rich coffee culture, and our tireless pursuit of fostering moments of connection between our partners and customers,” he added.
The sanctuary’s interior was made in collaboration with local craftspeople and artists, paying homage to the country’s culture and coffee heritage. There is a wood carving that features Indonesia’s six coffee growing regions’ local culture and architecture as well as a living wall filled with images of Bali’s flora whilst the two-story mural displays the work of local coffee farmers.
The Reserve Bar contains the designs of the region’s ocean waves on the layered red-brick exterior façade. The store’s second floor contains a media room that tells the works of their Farmer Support Center in Sumatra.
Also being the ‘origin-centered version’ of their roasteries, the site offers visitors a chance to experience making coffee from bean to cup.
The coffee sanctuary houses a 1,000 square foot coffee tree farm which is said to be the typical size of an Indonesian farm. At its second floor is the seedling nursery, which is an open-aired greenhouse canopied by panes of glass. An interactive video wall will also be their that showcases how coffee is planted, processed, roasted, shipped and brewed into an espresso.
Customers can experience washing, drying and raking green coffee beans whilst the Reserve Bar allows them to have a taste of Starbucks Reserve small-lot coffees.
Starbucks has been operating in Indonesia for 16 years, following a continued agreement with PT Mitra Adiperkasa.
2006 saw the Starbucks Foundation donating US$4 million to support farming communities. Just last year, they provided grants to Lutheran World Relief to support women-led community health and hygiene programs for 2,100 households in Sumatran coffee-producing villages over the next three years.
