Starbucks Reserve — Restaurant in Cotai Landfill Zone

One of the new venues at the recently opened MGM Cotai is a Starbucks Reserve, a relatively new concept from the famous American coffee company and the first of its kind to open in Macau. This is a good place to try if you fancy a higher quality coffee on the Cotai Strip. Opening hours are 7.30-11pm daily with later opening hours to 12am on Friday and Saturday.

Large Seating Area The first thing you will notice with the Starbucks Reserve at MGM Cotai is that it is huge, much larger than any Starbucks we have come across during our travels. There is probably enough seating for 60-70 guests at a variety of tables, station counters and cushioned wall seats. It is worth being said that the seating is very new and nice at this early point in time. Hope this lasts with time.

There are also many electric outlets throughout, encouraging patrons to plug in to work or make use of free MGM Wifi while enjoying a coffee drinks or other Starbucks products.

Coffee Drinks At this Starbucks Reserve, you can still order the traditional Starbucks list of coffee drinks. There is also nice selection of pastries and other light bites that you'd expect to find at local Starbucks.

What makes the Reserve shop different is the availability of premium single-origin coffees which can be enjoyed in a traditional espresso form or a variety of other brewing methods (pour over, chemex, siphon, press, cold brew and even nitro brew). This is something new and different to the traditional Starbucks we have all known over the years.

Note: The premium beans and brewing are done at a centre station which is manned with specialist baristas, not behind the order counter where the traditional Starbucks coffee drinks are prepared.

Our First Impression of this Starbucks Reserve As for our recent stay at MGM Cotai, we visited this Starbucks Reserve on two mornings. On the first we tried their single-origin Nicaragua Maracaturra as an espresso and cortado. Can honestly say that both were very good, quality espresso drinks. We enjoyed the coffees with a normal croissant that was just fine.

On the second morning, we ordered a vanilla affogato and normal doppio espresso from the traditional Starbucks counter. The affogato was better than we expected. Nice vanilla ice-cream mixed with with the behind the counter espresso. As for the doppio, this was the classic Italian Roast variety, which is pretty good. It held its own against the single-origin espresso enjoyed the day before but was less vibrant and rich in flavour.

In the end, we were happy with our first couple of experiences with the Starbucks Reserve at MGM Cotai. I do like that they have continued to serve the traditional Starbucks coffee drinks here, allowing the shop to remain accessible to more casual drinkers while opening things up for the serious coffee drinkers out there who struggle to find a serious cup of black on the Cotai Strip. We'll be back here for sure and can only hope that Starbucks Reserve manage to keep hold of their...

The first Starbucks Reserve in town. Aside the first few days of openings which are so crowed, it's a nice place to relax. Well trained and knowledgeable staff who are very friendly and would love to share their coffee knowledge with us. 5 stars for...

Star bucks reserved shop with premium Teavana and Nitro/ cold brew coffee. Also the signature reserved coffee beans offered in a number of brewing methods. A nice place to hang around at the expensive MGM...