Starbucks Old Town - Top 3 Starbucks in My List

It’s pretty classic that when I go anywhere in Indonesia, I really appreciate the existence of Starbucks nearby. For some reason, Starbucks, like I said, has different architecture depending on the city and the culture. Compared to local cafes, whenever I travel somehow I am more interested to Starbuck building than its local cafe/coffee shop. I just find that there are hardly any cafes/coffee shops around that actually stand out in terms of architecture. It’s such a pity that many places are either copying what was successful in Bali or a good place that serves even more overpriced and bad coffee. Not to mention, in hip areas, they are the only decent place to work from with comfortable and cozy chairs. So, that’s why they win me over.

I was recently suggested to visit Starbucks in Shanghai but with the covid stuff, I don’t think I ever would go there or maybe far in the future. There’s also Starbucks old town in Dubai that I have to see at least once in my lifetime and it’s more doable than Shanghai ones.Now, having to visit Starbucks in many hip spots all around the country, this old town Starbucks just makes me want to stay over there and move to that city.

In Semarang, Starbucks has 11 stores spread throughout the city and its mega shopping malls. I found this through their store locator in my app. However, one iconic place would be the one in Kota lama or old town. Much like Starbucks in Malioboro, people don’t really sit in when in this starbucks. They just go for the drink and leave to explore the surroundings of the old town. For me, since I like to sit in for a while, I decided to just go for breakfast there. I have plenty of free vouchers in my cart, so my breakfast was almost free. I also have to collect my stars to get the Starbucks planner app which is pretty pricey in Indonesia. I calculated it and we basically have to spend around 7-8$ 30 days straight just to get the planner. It sucks because from what I was reading, other countries have it easier.

The building of this starbuck was vast and roomy. It occupies one of the new indies architecture with such a wide room and tall ceilings. They have about 4 different sections but no 2nd floor. They kept the place pretty minimalistic and quite tasteful with some paintings compared to some Starbucks I’ve been to which are often pretty plain and simple.

This one left an impression. Even from outside, it has a great view especially during the rain. You can see it in my last picture over Trip To Little Netherland. The chairs were also slightly different from the ones in regular starbucks. They tried to match with the old indies styles although keeping it pretty much the same color tone as the other Starbucks anywhere.

The outside coffee experience was also interesting. As you can see below, it really reminds me of the European cafe scene in which it’s pretty rare for an Indonesian cafe to arrange their chairs outside like this. I have multiple shots of this but this one should do. Though again, since it’s really hot outside, not many people were willing to sit outside.

If I were to rate this Starbucks, this would be on my top 3 starbucks in Indonesia for now. The first one is the Starbucks Reserve Dewata in Bali, the second one is starbucks ubud that you can find in this trip A Short trip to Mengwi And Ubud : 17th Century Taman Ayun Temple. Now, I am adding one more into the list, Starbucks old town because of its distinct architecture.

Talking about the coffee though, it’s pretty much the same everywhere. I don’t really get their latte or frappuccino. I was staying with the basics, americano and raisin scone for my breakfast. They also play jazzy christmas music which really adds more ambience towards the experience that I was having. But the last day of my stay there. I visited the place and had a cappuccino. I am not going to lie, one of the reasons I go there is also because it’s just across the place where I was staying. When I was in the city, I was either walking 5-6 km/day in the heat to actually be lazy getting my own coffee and food. I am also very cautious of what I eat because when I am going experimental mode, I tend to get food poisoning and become sick. Same thing with coffee. Thankfully, the coffee I had was good when I first arrived.

When I was strolling through the old town, I found some local roastery and apparently next to Starbucks, a new Otten store has recently opened. Otten sells coffee tools and cafe equipment. I didn’t really check inside because there was nothing that I wanted to buy and I wasn’t bringing enough cash just in case I wanted to get something from them. They will be my other reason to come back to Semarang. Not to mention, I have not visited one of the iconic coffee shops in that place just because I forgot about it and was running out of time to do that. The 3 hour trip that I can do anytime is certainly doable to visit this other fun city to explore.