TheJakartaPost

Please Update your browser

Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.

Jakarta Post

Bali now home to Southeast Asia's largest Starbucks store 'Dewata'

Not only one of the world's largest coffee producers, Indonesia is making another mark among caffeine-enthusiasts as it also now home to Southeast Asia's largest Starbucks store, with the US-based coffee chain opening its "coffee sanctuary" Starbucks Reserve Dewata in Bali over the weekend.

Liza Yosephine (The Jakarta Post)
Bali
Tue, January 15, 2019

Share This Article

Change Size

Bali now home to Southeast Asia's largest Starbucks store 'Dewata' Situated on Jl. Sunset Road in Seminyak, the store is built on over 2,000 square meters of land and boasts a laid-back layout. With swinging seats on the patio and plush couches in the library-themed room on the second floor, it will be easy to feel cozy and right at home in Southeast Asia's largest Starbucks store. (JP/Liza Yosephine)

I

ndonesia's resort island of Bali is a popular holiday spot among global travelers, and its status as a gateway tourist destination to Southeast Asia's largest economy has led to US coffee giant Starbucks opening its largest store in the region in the island's busy neighborhood of Seminyak.

The branch takes after Bali's colloquial title, namely Starbucks Reserve "Dewata", a term that means "god" in the Hindu-majority island locally dubbed Pulau Dewata (Island of the Gods).

Situated on Jl. Sunset Road in Seminyak, the store is built on over 2,000 square meters of land and boasts a laid-back layout. With swinging seats on the patio and plush couches in the library-themed room on the second floor, it will be easy to feel cozy and right at home in Southeast Asia's largest Starbucks store.

The spacious building's floor-to-ceiling windows on one side look out on to a micro-plot of arabica coffee trees measuring 100 sq. m, which mirrors the size of 90 percent of all coffee farms in the country, physically illustrating the store's aim to give an insight from seed to cup.

A working coffee farm in Starbucks Reserve Dewata.
A working coffee farm in Starbucks Reserve Dewata. (JP/Liza Yosephine)

Dewata goes beyond being a regular Starbucks hub, even with its upscale Reserve bar, as the store has been designed to become a coffee sanctuary that offers an in-depth look into the coffee-making process.

Indonesia is the world's fourth-largest coffee producer after Brazil, Vietnam and Colombia, according to Trade Ministry data. There are six main coffee-growing areas in the country, namely Sumatra, Sulawesi, Java, Flores, Bali and West Papua.

Read also: Starbucks gets new drinks from lab to cafe in one-fifth the time

Starbucks chief executive officer Kevin Johnson, who officially opened the store over the weekend, said the company had sourced arabica coffee from Indonesia since the beginning of its journey almost half a century ago.

"We started sourcing coffee here in Indonesia in 1971 when we opened, and today we are the largest buyer of arabica coffee in Indonesia," Johnson said on Saturday. "Now that coffee is served in over 29,000 Starbucks stores, across 78 markets around the world," he added.

Starbucks CEO Kevin Johnson opened Dewata in Bali.
Starbucks CEO Kevin Johnson opened Dewata in Bali. (JP/Liza Yosephine)

Johnson, whose favorite brew is the specialized Aged Sumatra, said the Dewata store was also a tribute to coffee farmers around the world.

Since early in its inception, which began almost two years ago, the store was involved closely with the company's farmer-support center in Indonesia in designing the unique concept of providing an elevated experience in showing how coffee grows, to how the cherry is processed and eventually becomes a beverage.

It offers guided tours to learn of the coffee-production journey, an experience only available at Dewata, which also houses a coffee-tree nursery, tasting room, interactive games and a media room that screens interviews with its agronomists.

Southeast Asia's largest Starbucks store also houses a coffee-tree nursery.
Southeast Asia's largest Starbucks store also houses a coffee-tree nursery. (JP/Liza Yosephine)

Anthony Cottan, the director of PT Sari Coffee Indonesia (Starbucks Indonesia), said the store aimed to tell the Indonesian coffee story. He added that the location of Bali was chosen since it allowed for both large numbers of Indonesians, as well as foreigners to access the location in a relaxed atmosphere.

A popular destination, Bali welcomed 5.2 million foreign tourists from January to October 2018, a 6.5 percent increase from 4.9 million visitors recorded in the same period in 2017, according to data from I Gusti Ngurah Rai International Airport in Denpasar. It is also a top vacation spot for domestic tourists.

"If it's rushed, it's not going to work, they need to spend a little of time with us -- half an hour to an hour -- to kind of embrace what we're doing," Cottan said.

Additionally, Starbucks Dewata also features three specially curated beans only available at its store, from Bali, Sumatra and Priangan in West Java, on top to the selected limited beans at the Reserve bar.

Starbucks has over 370 stores across Indonesia, including nine other Reserve bars, which offer unique options to customers seeking an enhanced coffee experience, as they provide special coffee serving techniques and rare beans from across the globe to choose from. (kes)

{

Your Opinion Matters

Share your experiences, suggestions, and any issues you've encountered on The Jakarta Post. We're here to listen.

Enter at least 30 characters
0 / 30

Thank You

Thank you for sharing your thoughts. We appreciate your feedback.