Starbucks, the world's biggest coffee chain, will realise its chairman's dream on Friday when it opens an upmarket roastery and cafe in Milan, but the test will be to convince coffee-obsessed Italians to pay more for their daily espresso.
The store will be the Seattle-based giant's first foray into the Italian market, the world's fourth-largest consumer of coffee, and comes 35 years after chairman emeritus Howard Schultz visited the country and was inspired to set up his own cafe chain.