Starbucks Opens 'Reserve Premium Class'

Starbucks Korea announced on the 6th that from the 7th to the 21st of this month, for three weeks every Thursday, it will hold the ‘Reserve Premium Class’ at key Reserve stores located in the metropolitan area.

A Starbucks barista is brewing coffee.
[Photo by Starbucks]

The Reserve Premium Class is a Reserve version of Starbucks' coffee seminar called ‘Byeoldabang Class,’ consisting of a diverse program where participants can engage in theoretical learning and various practical exercises together with regional coffee masters selected through Starbucks' in-house coffee expert course.

In this class, Starbucks will guide participants to brew coffee using three extraction methods: Chemex, pour-over, and coffee press, and will conduct content that helps them understand the differences in taste and aroma by checking the yield and concentration of the extracted coffee for each extraction method.

The Reserve Premium Class, held for the first time this year, is operated with a small elite group of six or fewer participants to provide a more intensive and differentiated coffee experience, and is held twice a day at nine key Reserve stores located in Seoul, Gyeonggi-do, and Incheon.

Reservations for participation can be made through the reservation announcement post for the Reserve Premium Class in the ‘What’s New’ section on the initial screen of the Starbucks app. The participation fee is 50,000 KRW, and participants will receive a small gift.

The reason Starbucks introduced the Reserve Premium Class is that the number of coffee enthusiasts who enjoy coffee tailored to their personalized tastes is steadily increasing, and accordingly, the number of participants in Starbucks coffee classes is also showing an upward trend.

In fact, the Byeoldabang Class held in the first half of this year saw over 2,000 customers participate through 163 Starbucks key stores nationwide, and more than 2,200 customers have already enjoyed coffee lectures in the Byeoldabang Class held in the second half of this year.

Starbucks plans to consider expanding the number of operating stores after reviewing the operation status of the Reserve Premium Class held for the first time and reflecting participant feedback.

Choi Yoonseop, head of the Operations Planning Team at Starbucks Korea, said, “Reflecting the great popularity of the Byeoldabang Class, one of Starbucks’ representative contents, we planned a course using Reserve beans,” and added, “Starbucks will continue to introduce various cultural contents to support customers’ high-quality coffee culture.”