Location: Escazú, Costa Rica
Year: 2019
Area:  38m2
Photographer: Andrés Garcia Lachner

Sencha Tea Bar is a shop in Avenida Escazú, one of San José’s busiest shopping/corporate centers. The wide variety of dining and retail options make it a popular destination among visitors and locals alike. The strategy is a brand redesign for Sencha Tea, rejuvenating and bringing it closer to the final user, not just in the architectural style which is more colorful and modern but also in their value proposition, expanding the line of products to offer prepared beverages. 

The shop is located on the ground floor of the shopping center and faces an open plaza. It sits next to the lobby area for corporate offices on one side and has a passageway to the parking lot on the other. Although most of the clientele is usually pedestrian, the shop can easily be seen from the project’s main road. 

The store is made up of a Tea Bar in the front and a product display area in the back. In this way clients can order their favorite tea drinks as well as purchase the products with which the drinks are made. It also has an outdoor seating area and a neon-lit selfie station. 

The material palette is based on the existing scheme used in previous Sencha Tea shops. It combines white metal, wood, concrete and steel mesh. Emphasis is given to areas of interest such as the bar and selfie station using led and neon lights to give it a playful and colorful touch.