Starbucks is about to find out as it opens its first store in Italy on Friday. “I’ve tasted Starbucks coffee and I’ll absolutely stick to Italian coffee,” said Milan resident Giulia Brighenti as she scraped the foamy remains of her espresso at a coffee bar not far from Starbucks’ new Reserve Roastery. In Italy, an espresso at a coffee bar is usually a quick morning or after-lunch ritual, downed while standing up. The cavernous former post office near the city’s Duomo, or cathedral, has a heated, marble-topped coffee bar. Like Brighenti, other locals drinking more traditional espressos at the neighbourhood coffee bar were skeptical.

Source: National Post September 06, 2018 04:05 UTC