With its copper pipes and towering casks, this expansive space looks like its popped out from the pages of a fantastical children's book.
But the extraordinary room is actually a branch of Starbucks - although it likely looks quite different to your local coffee shop.
The futuristic Starbucks Reserve Roastery, in Milan, which opened its doors in September 2018, serves cocktails and pizza alongside fresh coffee and is so big customers can pick up a map to help navigate the space.
Customers strolling in off the historic Palazzo Delle Poste building on Piazza Cordusio are greeted by a breathtaking space with marble floors and soaring ceilings.
The Roastery's stunning mosaic marble floor is handcrafted in the traditional Palladianan style, while the entrance wall features the Starbucks history engraved in brass.
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Customers can explore this wall with their phones through an augmented reality app giving them access to more about the company's history and the art and science of coffee.
In the middle of the venue, customers are invited to observe the 'bean to cup' process.
The green beans are processed in a 22ft bronze roasting cask that periodically unfolds like a blooming flower and rotates giving customers a rare glimpse of the de-gassing phase of the coffee bean roasting process.
To make the entire process more enjoyable this can be done while enjoying a freshly baked pastry or pizza from a wood-fired oven.
Downstairs there is a bar where coffee meets craft, with traditional espresso drinks and signature Roastery creations sharing the spotlight.
Slow-brew methods and techniques melding art with science encourage you to linger over the multisensory experience.
At the end of the Roastery's main coffee bar on the ground floor is a theatrical mix of food and beverage that have dubbed 'Fire and Ice.'
A line of siphons with glowing flames for brewing coffee sits next to an affogato station creating ice cream with liquid nitrogen, generating clouds of puffy, white vapor with each hand-crafted batch.
The most glamorous bar in the building is upstairs and specialises in both beans and spirits. Called Arriviamo, the Starbucks cocktail bar serves beer, wine, and cocktails curated by a mixologist all of which are made with coffee or tea.
This article has been adapted from its original source.
