Today, Starbucks celebrates the journey of coffee from seed-to-cup by opening its largest destination in Southeast Asia – the Starbucks Dewata Coffee Sanctuary.
Designed as a coffee sanctuary, the expansive 20,000 square foot store beautifully highlights local craftsmanship and culture alongside premium coffee in this one-of-a-kind coffee experience, a sort of “origin-centered version” of the Roasteries, igniting all five senses. Visitors enter through an arabica coffee farm, try their hand at coffee bean de-pulping and washing during harvest season, dry and rake green coffee beans, visit budding seedlings in the nursery, take in the store’s locally-inspired design featuring traditional Balinese craft and Indonesian art, and enjoy the more than 100 Dewata-exclusive handcrafted beverages, food and merchandise, including the Lavender Latte.
A Sensory Coffee Journey
Located in Bali’s up-and-coming premium retail district on Sunset Road, the Coffee Sanctuary provides a carefully curated series of interactive experiences.
As customers enter, they’ll be greeted at the concierge reception and then guided through a working, 1,000 square foot coffee tree farm, the size of a typical Indonesian farm. Customers will continue their journey through contemporary Balinese landscaping, passing coffee plants and a de-pulping station before trying their hand at washing, drying and raking green coffee beans. Inside, the expansive Starbucks Reserve™ bar offers customers an intimate experience to taste Starbucks Reserve small-batch coffees, while the core bar offers Starbucks signature core beverages.
Located on the second floor is the seedling nursery, a greenhouse canopied by panes of glass to create an open-air experience. Here, customers can touch the first stages of the seed-to-cup journey, as well as deepen their understanding of the art of tending to coffee plants alongside a local Balinese farmer. In the adjoining tasting room, customers’ tastebuds will come alive as they enjoy coffee as coffee quality professionals do, without a filter – simply coffee and water – to draw out the flavors that set each cup apart.
For those looking for more, visitors can engage with an interactive video wall and hear how coffee is planted, processed, roasted, shipped and brewed into a delicious cup of espresso. On the second floor, a dedicated media room features two synchronized video walls, showcasing the work of the Starbucks Farmer Support Center (FSC) in Sumatra and agronomist, Dr. Surip Mawardi’s, work with Indonesian coffee farmers.
Connecting to Coffee Through Local Design
The Sanctuary was designed as an homage to Indonesia’s rich culture and coffee heritage. The store’s expansive interior was inspired by traditional Balinese houses with free-flowing, connected rooms that promote discovery from one space to the next.
The store’s interior was designed in partnership with local craftspeople and artists with one goal: tell the story of coffee in Indonesia. This is brought to life by a wood carving depicting the country’s six coffee growing regions’ local culture and architecture. A two-story mural in the courtyard pays tribute to local farmers who carefully nurture and protect the beans each step of their journey to Starbucks.
On the main floor, Starbucks partners (employees) welcome customers to the 13-meter teak Starbucks Reserve bar, drawing inspiration from Bali’s terraced rural landscapes, where customers can taste some of Starbucks rarest coffee offerings. Across the store, eyes are drawn to the living wall filled with flora from the region, situated behind the core bar designed to remind customers of Bali’s ocean waves which are replicated on the layered red-brick exterior façade.
