Starbucks Pulls in Crowds at First Italian Cafe.

Around two hundred people queued outside the first Starbucks cafe in Italy on Friday, as the world’s biggest coffee chain faces one of its toughest tests yet with an upmarket roastery in the center of Milan.

Coffee-obsessed Italy has more than 57,000 cafes and Starbucks, at its lavish roastery decorated with brass and marble, is charging almost twice what Italians are used to paying for their daily espresso drunk standing at a bar.

Yet people who stood in line in the central Cordusio square seemed undeterred by the prices which have drawn complaints from an Italian consumer association.

The opening enticed curious Italians and tourists alike.

The cafe features a green industrial-scale roaster and serves coffee made only with premium-quality Arabica beans, while most Italian cafes use a cheaper blend.

Cocktails, pastry and ice creams are also on sale at the store that marks the realization of a lifetime dream for Howard Schultz, the man who turned Starbucks into the world’s biggest coffee chain.