Visiting the Starbucks Reserve Roastery in Seattle Washington - 2022/08/02

We're in Seattle, home to lots of big corporations like Microsoft, Costco, and most importantly Starbucks! Just down the street at Pike Place Market is the very first Starbucks, but that's not our goal today. Today we're after an entirely different Starbucks experience than we've ever had before. 

My sister-in-law Megan is a big coffee lover and came to the Starbucks Reserve Roastery a week before us and said we had to come see it. They offer things that you won't find in your everyday Starbucks and it's a really unique experience. 

Current estimates put the total number of Starbucks stores in the world at 33800+ (as of 2021). Right now, there are only 6 Starbucks Reserve locations in Seattle, New York, Chicago, Shanghai, Tokyo, and Milano. 

The inside is huge! And smells wonderfully of coffee and other baked items.

There's a subway style sign flipping through interesting information and welcoming us to the roastery. 

Of course there's merchandise you can buy. 

Steiff invented the Teddy Bear back in 1902. They've made a special bear for the Starbucks Reserve Roastery. Yours for just $295.00. Maybe we'll get two. 

Have you had wood-fired pizza from a Starbucks? You can get it here!

Inside are hot ovens, ready to cook and reheat your order. 

There's lots of different pizza flavors. Alli was really wanting to try this one with peppers and sausage. 

Along with pizzas, there's a large sampling of pastries!

Yum! Look at that Chocolate Hazelnut Cornetto. 

There's a wall of breads, plus a selection of desserts too!

While the kids and I were getting the pizza and other treats, Theresa was waiting in line for coffee. 

There's a lot of tasty food here. 

Alli wanted the pepper and sausage pizza ($9). Ian requested a tiramisu ($9.50). 

Theresa wanted to try the Chocolate Hazelnut Cornetto ($5.50). And I got the Princina ($11.50), their signature tart with a chocolate shortbread crust, chocolate ganache, and dusted with cocoa powder.  

Theresa stood in line for coffee and we were all interested in trying the Cold Brew Trio. It has Starbucks Reserve Cold Brew, Nitro Cold Brew, and Whiskey-Barrel Aged Cold Brew. But we also saw that instead of regular coffee they also do Cold Brew Ice Cream Floats! Let's have that instead!

There's the Reserve Cold Brew Float ($11.50), Nitro Cold Brew Float ($12.50). They don't sell a Whisky Barrel Aged Cold Brew, but they'll sell you the coffee ($10.50) and a scoop of ice cream ($6) and you can make it yourself. 

The Whisky Barrel Aged coffee was good! It had a strong whisky flavor to go along with it. 

Not so tasty for everyone. 

I like the large "cube" of ice in it. 

Alli didn't care for it either. 

How about if we add some ice cream? That'll give it some sweetness and creaminess!

 It was delicious! My favorite thing I had here. 

And the other two coffee floats? 

Ice cream and coffee go well together. 

The Chocolate Hazelnut Cornetto was buttery and flaky. 

Yum!

The tart was rich and chocolatey. 

The bottom of the pizza was beautifully caramelized and crunchy. 

That was a really tasty pizza! Alli requested that I make a pizza at home with those ingredients for her going forward. 

Are we done? Nah! Let's try some more tasty treats!

Theresa wanted to try a classic Cornetto (no filling) with a Classic Brioche. Ian wanted to try the spicy salami pizza, and we got a classic margherita pizza too.  

Fantastic!

Buttery, flaky bread is a winner no matter what. The other pizzas were good too, but not quite as good as the first one.

Out of all the things we tried today, what are everyone's favorites? 

Alli - The sausage and pepper pizza. 

Ian - The tiramisu.

Theresa - The Cornetto with no filling. 

Joe - And I liked the whiskey coffee with ice cream. Am I the only one who picked something with coffee? (I guess Ian's technically has coffee in the tiramisu).

Let's go see the rest of the roastery. 

A cooling pan for beans after they've been roasted. 

Different shades of beans based on different roasting times. 

There's a Coffee Library with books you can read about coffee. 

And pictures showing the journey of the coffee beans. 

Beside the shelves are bags and bags of coffee beans. 

Or are they? There was a bag that was damaged and dropping beans on the floor. They aren't beans at all! It's a pebble, like a little lava rock!

And boy are these bags dusty! 

Well I was surprised that we spent over $120 here on light snacks and drinks. They sure were delicious though! I don't think we were disappointed with the flavor of any of the treats we tried. The kids loved coming here and trying all the tasty foods!