Wednesday 11 November 2015

Starbucks does wine: A trip to the newest, poshest branch of the coffee chain

Prosecco, beer and absolutely no red cups.  Rachael Sigee finds out if a new ‘Star-luxe’ can lure boozy Londoners from the pub
Starbucks Reserve
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Exposed concrete? Tick. Industrial lighting? Tick. Copper kitchen utensils, great-looking staff and understated branding? Tick, tick, tick. Then there’s the connoisseur’s coffee menu, carefully-selected wine list and craft beers: so far, so east London bar opening.
But this isn’t the latest hipster hybrid dining “concept” on the scene. This is the newest branch of Starbucks on Upper St Martin’s Lane. Or, as this sexy older sister prefers to be known, Starbucks Reserve.
The ubiquitous Seattle brand has a sleek new look and a suave new vibe and now I’m not sure whether to launch a Kickstarter tech company or start an art collective. 
No one is disputing that Starbucks is good at what it does. But chic? This is new territory for the chain usually associated with convenience and functionality. And will anyone want to drink alcohol here?
starbucks-reserve2.jpg
Bubbling up: Rachael Sigee with Eyob Taye from Starbucks Reserve
Starbucks research and development manager Rachel Chatterton thinks so. “There are definitely similarities between wine and coffee and the people who are passionate about them,” she says. “If you’re in Spain, you wouldn’t blink at people serving alcohol alongside coffee. It’s quite continental.”
Instead of yummy mummies on cosy sofas, there are a bunch of cool-looking young professionals using the wireless phone-charging spots and sipping double shot espresso in mini tumblers. There isn’t an armchair in sight. 
There’s no queuing or shouting, either. Some customers might be sad to hear that they won’t have an opportunity to tweet hilarious mis-spelling of their names because these paper cups are black and orders are labelled with stickers. Even the menu is bulldog-clipped to rustic pieces of wood. You order from one of the staff-members (who are armed with iPads), take a seat and enjoy table service.
It’s not just the superficial stuff that is different. Five different brewing methods are on offer including the £6 siphon-brewed coffee which is made on hotplates that light up prettily.
But it’s the booze that is the big draw. Getting sozzled in a Starbucks sounds like a story that might end with being politely asked to leave the premises, but from 4pm until last orders at 9pm, alcohol is very much on offer.
The menu of four reds, four whites, a rosé and a prosecco includes two options from the Columbia Valley as a nod to the chain’s Seattle heritage.
The craft beers have been chosen from London breweries (Five Points in Hackney andMondo's London Alt from Battersea) and it is the first Starbucks in the UK to offer freshly made food on-site including cheese and charcuterie boards in the evening and an on-trend, and surprisingly good Truffle mac ’n’ cheese. 
It’s not the only high-street coffee chain branching into the evening market, of course. Pret A Manger began serving a supper menu this summer to much fanfare although I’m yet to find anyone who has taken a date there. We’re more familiar with the authenticity of independent, artisanal coffee-booze crossbreeds like Relax... It’s Only Coffee or Foxcroft & Ginger
But this is an example of a big-name chain taking note that lifestyle trends are changing and its offerings need to be versatile.
Chatterton points out that the amalgam of coffee shop and bar solves the problem of members of a group wanting different things. Figures this year showed that around one in three adults are teetotal in London and these days you might fancy a glass of wine but if your best mate is evangelising about their clean lifestyle and reluctant to go to a pub, you can end up spending your night in a sad café staring at the last sandwich left over from lunchtime. 
Once you factor in Dry January, Stoptober, the pre-holiday cleanse and wedding season, there’s hardly any time left in the calendar when someone won’t be steering clear of bars.  
The new boozy coffee bars fit somewhere in the middle. If that quick afternoon latte with a business associate goes well you can cheekily suggest a celebratory glass of fizz. When your pregnant friend is bored of being side-lined at the pub, this place can look after her while you stick to the wine.
And at the risk of sounding like I should be breaking out the Werther’s Originals, it’s no bad thing to be able to enjoy a drink while being able to hear yourself think.