What Will Be On The Starbucks NYC Roastery Menu?

Depending on how much of a Starbucks addict you are, you may already know that the beloved coffee chain recently announced plans to open a new Roastery location in New York City. The mega-Starbucks isn't set to open its doors until 2018, but that certainly hasn't stopped us all from wondering the same thing: What's on the Starbucks New York Roastery menu? Although there's no way to predict exactly what it will serve two years from now, the New York location might end up taking many of its cues from the original Starbucks Reserve and Roastery in Seattle — and that might give New Yorkers an idea of what to expect from their version.

If you merely dabble in Starbucks, this may be the first you've heard of either Roastery, but the concept is pretty simple. Described in a press release as an "homage to coffee," the original Roastery functions like a Starbucks superstore with small-batch coffee at the heart of the action; customers are encouraged to taste rare coffees and ask master baristas questions about the coffee-making process. (There's a surprising amount of thought that goes into your daily cup of joe.) Although the new Roastery, which will be located in Manhattan's Meatpacking District, promises to be similar to the Seattle location, it's not destined to be a carbon copy — according to a press release, the company intends the NYC Roastery to be "locally relevant." At the very least, If the Seattle Roastery is anything to go by, it promises to look awesome.

That's the Seattle location above; the nine-story building housing the approxiamtely 20,000-square-foot NYC space will be designed by architect Rafael Viñoly. The future home of the Roastery will be located at 61 9th Ave., just one block away from Chelsea Market.

Aside from these details, though, the NYC Roastery is still largely in the planning stages — but that doesn't mean we can't use the original location to make some informed guesses about the menu. As mentioned above, the Roastery focuses on small-batch "rare" coffees unique to the Seattle location; if you want to try one, you have to buy from the Starbucks Reserve line of whole bean coffees or trek all the way to the Seattle Roastery for a barista to brew a cup for you. According to the Starbucks website, these coffees are only available for a limited time, and you can sign up to have a new flavor delivered to you from Seattle every month. For example, next month's flavor is Tanzania Tweega, which features "lemon and black currant flavors with a chocolate finish." Other flavors, available online, include Sumatra Aceh, Cameroon Mt. Oku, and Malawi Sable Farms — again, however, these are only available for a limited time before they're swapped out for different roasts.

In short, there's no way to tell exactly what the NYC Roastery menu will entail, but we know a few things: The roasts will be small-batch, limited-edition, and gathered from all around the world. Additionally, the Seattle Roastery provides a number of different methods of brewing, which further affect coffee's flavor.

Who knew coffee could be so complicated before you add in all the milk and flavoring? If you live in the NYC area and you're interested in the brewing process behind your daily dose of caffeine, start getting excited for the Roastery — just not too excited, because it's still two years away.

Images: Starbucks (3)