Starbucks Is Opening In A Traditional Japanese Teahouse And Keeping All The Ambience

Starbucks Japan customers already get the coolest limited-time offerings like cherry Frappuccinos with pie crust lids and baked apple lattes, and now they're about to get something really unique, because Starbucks is opening a new store in a 100-year-old Japanese teahouse, and they're keeping the original style intact.

According to Sora News 24, the new Starbucks will open on June 30 in a teahouse that was built 100 years ago. It's in a pretty spectacular location in Kyoto, on a road that leads up to the famed Kiyomizudera Temple. The building originally housed a traditional-style teahouse until it went out of business in 2005 and was sold to a taxi company. Now it's a Starbucks, but it does not look like any other Starbucks in the world, because the company kept its original style and finishes.

Inside, the bar is a glowing block with a view of a garden. From outside, a person would never even know the building was a Starbucks without looking closely. The building's exterior looks like a traditional teahouse, and instead of its normal signage and advertising, the Starbucks alerts passersby to the fact that it's actually a Starbucks with just a simple, subdued blue cloth noren sign over the door with the Starbucks mermaid on it.

The second floor has a raised seating area with tatami floors where customers take their shoes off and sit on cushions.

On top of all that ambience, the new Starbucks will also get all the special food and drink offerings that are unique to Starbucks Japan.

Click here to see the most unusual Starbucks drink flavors from around the world.