Before you Easties prepare rotten eggs that’re filled with maggots to throw at me, hold your horses.
I’m not the one who coined Tampines as the most kiasu town in Singapore. Giant said one, so you can buy eggs from them, wait for years then throw them at the supermarket chain.
But with this new Starbucks outlet, no one’s going to blame you for saying that Tampines is really kiasu, or is super high-SES.
Read on because this isn’t just about the looks. It’s about the coffee as well (though…you’ve got to wonder, do people have Starbucks for the taste of its coffee?)
*siam-ing rotten eggs with maggots*
Starbucks Boutique Store
Back in 14 December 1996 (do note the date), Starbucks opened its first outlet in Singapore, right in the middle of Singapore at Liat Towers. Ever since then, it has become the high-SES kopi that somehow turned into Instagram’s favourite hashtag, and students were dying to be spotted studying there and be labelled as strawberries.
But these stores are holed into a retail space—and that’s understandable considering how expensive rental is in Singapore, and how Telegram-obsessed Stephanie, Instagram-addict Tommy and smartphone-lover Dylan have often bought a drink and study in an outlet for an entire day.
However, Starbucks is opening its first “boutique store” (don’t bother Googling what “Starbucks boutique store” is: I’ve tried and there’s no result) in Tampines, just in front of Tampines Mall.
Given that there’s no online record of what a “Starbucks boutique store” is, I’d go out on a limb to say that it’s the first Starbucks outlet in Singapore that’s not housed in a hole, but has its own building.
I mean, take a look.
It has two storeys and that means you can bring your high-SES kopi-O kosong Americano up the stairs! How’s that for an Instagram Boomerang~
The spaceship-looking café also allows lots of natural light in, which is a wet dream for our resident photographer. Like what he’ll say, “The best-est lighting is the sun”, which is why you’d often see us taking images just beside the window:
(Yah, this one our Instagram; don’t stingy leh, follow leh!)
But like what I’ve mentioned, this new café isn’t just about its look.
Because beyond its pretty face, there’s some kickass high-SES kopi that you can’t find elsewhere.
(Okay lah, can find but not that easy)
Black Eagle Espresso Machine
If you’ve noticed, Starbucks specifically mentioned about its “Black Eagle Espresso Machine.”
Tell that to Premium Ah Lian and she’d say, “Das means what?”
A Black Eagle Espresso machine is a super high-SES espresso machine made by Italian company Victoria Arduino (even the name is high-SES, no?).
It can hold two different types of beans and therefore create two types of espresso shots concurrently. It also allows the barista to control the espresso brewing processes very precisely, like the ratio of the beans, the time and the temperature—think of it as a manual-transmission car instead of an auto-transmission car. We all know the manual car can go faster with better control, right?
Usually, this machine is used for specialty coffee (read: super high-SES coffee). Laymen like us who can’t tell the difference between Nescafe and Owl won’t have understood, but coffee enthusiasts would go all apeshit about this.
Well, for a start, I don’t know how much the Starbucks Black Eagle espresso machine costs, but a simple check online would show that each machine costs about SGD$30,000.
Goody Feed Resident Cat: It better make the kopi taste like gold.
But anyways.
Here in Singapore, only two other Starbucks outlets have this machine: the one in United Square and the other in Marina Bay Sands. In case you’re not aware, these two outlets are Starbucks Reserve outlets.
If you don’t know what Starbucks Reserve is, you might not be high-SES enough, because Starbucks Reserve is reserved for the highest-SES.
Okay, maybe not, but they’re the atas version of Starbucks (as if Starbucks itself is not atas enough).
Opened on 14 December 2018
The Tampines Starbucks outlet has just opened yesterday (14 December 2018), which is to celebrate Starbucks’ 22nd birthday in Singapore, so if you’re tired and need some coffee…I suggest you to get some coffee the nearby McDonald’s.
Because I won’t need a crystal ball to predict that it’ll be packed AF with influencer-wannabe trying to order “Black Eagle Coffee” (hello, no such coffee lah, Black Eagle is the name of the machine lah bodoh).
Address: 4 Tampines Central 5, #01-50, Singapore 529510.
Opening Hours:
Sun – Thurs: 0730 – 2300 hrs
Fri & Sat: 24 Hours
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