America’s Top Coffee Shop Opens First in India

Starbucks is now an ‘It’ place to have coffee in India. Of course, there is still the debate between coffee and tea. But, barring a few, the tea lounges are usually high-end and are mostly located in star hotels or are stand-alone tea bars. And now Starbucks has upped its game in India by launching its first-ever 5200 sq ft Reserve Store in Mumbai’s Fort area.

In India, the Starbucks Coffee Company operates in tandem with Tata Consumer Products Ltd for a decade now. Hence, not surprisingly, the company now has over 300 outlets and serves approximately 3.3 lakh customers in India every week.

The Reserve Store has a huge mural of the mermaid done up by Sonal Vasave and Makarand Narkar, while architect-artist Ankon Mitra, created a sculpture befitting the space. Henceforth, coffee lovers will have two bars, one with regular drinks from Starbucks and the other using unique brewing methods like pour-over, Chemex, siphon, and Nitro Cold Brew among others.

While Starbucks is changing its operational style abroad, in India, they are projecting it as a high-end coffee place. As a part of their strategy, they are also penetrating tier-2 markets, while positioning it as a ‘place to hang out’ for good coffee and a place to be seen.

As for Reserve, it is mainly targeted at coffee lovers, who travel the world and experience the various nuances of international flavors.