Starbucks today demonstrated its commitment to make some of the world’s most extraordinary coffees accessible to Malaysians with the opening of Penang’s first Starbucks Reserve™ store. Located in the heart of the bustling commercial hub of Gurney Plaza, this new store marks the 12th Starbucks Reserve Store in Malaysia. Created for those looking for a more intimate coffee experience, Starbucks Reserve™ Gurney Plaza features an interactive coffee bar equipped with the complete range of brewing equipment.
“The opening of Penang’s first Starbucks Reserve further reinforces our coffee leadership here in Malaysia, while also committing to fostering coffee education and moments of connections between our Starbucks partners (employees) and our customers,” said Sydney Quays, Group CEO of Berjaya Food Berhad and managing director of Starbucks Malaysia & Brunei. “This store amplifies our passion for coffee and our ongoing commitment to continue providing unprecedented coffee experiences to the Malaysian community.”
The Starbucks Reserve Gurney Plaza features two bars, a main bar that serves core Starbucks products as well as a coffee bar that highlights rare, small-lot coffees from around the world. Baristas are all certified Coffee Masters who handcraft beverages using a variety of state-of-the-art brewing techniques like Siphon, Chemex, Pour-over, Black Eagle manual espresso machines and Nitro Cold Brew taps to bring out the coffee’s flavors. Customers can enjoy the classic Starbucks menu in addition to specialty beverages inspired by the six Starbucks Reserve Roasteries around the world, including Shanghai, Milan and Tokyo.
At the heart of Starbucks premium Reserve brand are the rare and exotic high-quality Arabica coffees, ethically sourced from more than 30 countries around the world. Each coffee is handpicked by a team of Starbucks coffee quality experts, offering both unique taste profiles and stories from the regions where they were grown. Through the baristas, customers at Starbucks Reserve Gurney Plaza will have the opportunity to learn more about where and how each and every Reserve™ coffee is farmed and harvested, and the impact it provides to the farmers and their families.
As Reserve™ beans are produced in small and limited quantities; new Reserve™ beans are introduced every quarter to ensure the constant supply of rare and exotic coffee in the Starbucks Reserve stores around the world.
Beginning January 14th, visitors to Starbucks Reserve stores in Malaysia may ignite their coffee curiosity with the newest Reserve™ Coffee Beans:
• New! Starbucks Reserve™ Papua New Guinea Kigabah Estate – The Papua New Guinea Kigabah Estate presents a rare blend of both caramel and spicy green herbs, with a medium body and medium acidity. Kigabah is a model coffee estate known for its high quality coffee. Kigabah works with the local community and satellite farms to help smallholder farmers improve production, coffee quality and embrace environmental best practices.
• New! Starbucks Reserve™ Nicaragua Dipilto – The Nicaragua Dipilto by Luis Emilio, who has run Buenos Aires farm in the Dipilto region since 1955, realized the awesome size and striking flavors of the lot, turning them into a sought-after crop. The Nicaragua Dipilto is a rare Maracaturra coffee blended with a combination of maracaturra varietal- maragopipe and Caturra. This cup of bright, sweetly complex coffee offers floral aromas and lemon flavor with an exquisite aftertaste of nuts and bittersweet chocolate.
• Returning Favorite! Starbucks Reserve™ Rwanda Abakundawa – The Rwanda Abakundakawa Kenya coffee, highlights pleasant delicate floral aromas with citrus flavor, baking spice accents and a cane sugar sweetness. In the wake of the Rwandan civil war, thousands of widows found themselves the sole providers to their families. United by their love of coffee, the empowered women of Abakundakawa came together to bring reconciliation and revitalization to their community and country.
Inspiring coffee passion and innovation, Starbucks takes ethical coffee bean sourcing very seriously, taking into account Product Quality, Economic Accountability, Social Responsibility and Environmental Leadership. Hence, the development of Reserve™ beans requires extensive and thorough research and study of the coffee supplies before it is marketed to ensure the quality of the beans are not compromised. Sourced from the rarest, most extraordinary coffees farms around the world, and often from remote areas with limited harvests from lots as small as a backyard, the Reserve™ beans are closely tied with ethical aspects to help the needy in some countries.
This new Starbucks Reserve store in Gurney Plaza adds to the list of existing Starbucks Reserve stores in Malaysia, including The Gardens Mall, Bukit Bintang Junction, Berjaya Times Square, Sunway Pyramid, SkyAvenue Genting Highlands, Publika, Desa Parkcity, Four Seasons Place Kuala Lumpur, Setia Alam Drive-Thru, Paradigm Mall Johor, and Southkey Megamall Johor.
Starbucks Coffee Masters Certification Program
To ensure that each cup of coffee is perfectly brewed, we ensure our baristas are the most knowledgeable in the coffee industry by providing ongoing learning opportunities through our Coffee Master certification program. Baristas, who are certified Coffee Masters are the experts in all things coffee, e.g. roast profiles, origin and blending, how coffee is processed, and much more. These Coffee Masters are recognizable via their unique black aprons.
For more information, please visit Starbucks Malaysia website at www.starbucks.com.my.