Seattle's Best Coffee facts for kids
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| Owner | Nestlé (2022–present) |
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| Introduced | 1970 |
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Seattle's Best Coffee is a well-known coffee brand. It is now owned by a big company called Nestlé. Seattle's Best sells different kinds of coffee, like ground coffee, whole beans, and K-cups.
Even though it used to have its own coffee shops in the United States, you won't find them advertised on its website anymore. Some of these old shops even became Starbucks stores. This happened when Starbucks used to own Seattle's Best Coffee.
A company called GoTo Foods manages the rights for Seattle's Best coffee shops in other countries and on military bases. Interestingly, even though Starbucks sold Seattle's Best to Nestlé in 2022, Starbucks still roasts the coffee for the brand. Seattle's Best Coffee is usually cheaper than Starbucks coffee. It is often seen as a coffee for everyday people, while Starbucks is known for being a bit more fancy.
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The Story of Seattle's Best Coffee
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Seattle's Best Coffee started in 1969. It was an ice cream and coffee shop called the Wet Whisker. This first shop was in Coupeville on Whidbey Island, near Seattle. The founder, Jim Stewart, bought green coffee beans. He roasted them himself to sell at his shop. By the end of the second summer, the shop had roasted and sold almost 500 pounds of coffee.
The next year, the Vashon Island Wet Whisker shop was sold. Jim Stewart and his brother Dave opened a new ice cream and coffee store. This new shop was on Pier 70 on Seattle's Waterfront. They called it Stewart Brothers Wet Whisker. In 1982, they started serving espresso drinks along with their other coffee products.
How the Name Changed Over Time
In 1983, the name of the company changed again. It went from Stewart Brothers Wet Whisker to Stewart Brothers Coffee. Soon after, the business started to grow. New shops opened in Bellevue, Washington, and at Seattle's famous Pike Place Market a year later. In 1991, the company changed its name one more time. It became "Seattle's Best Coffee" after winning a local competition.
Around 1995, a group of investors bought the company. These investors also owned another coffee company called Torrefazione Italia. They created a new company called Seattle Coffee Holdings. In 1997, Seattle Coffee Holdings changed its name to Seattle Coffee Company.
In 1998, a company called AFC Enterprises bought Seattle Coffee Holdings. They started allowing other businesses to open Seattle's Best Coffee shops as franchises. While AFC Enterprises owned the company, the coffee roasting facility on Vashon Island was improved. The company also started selling organic coffee. AFC Enterprises sold Seattle's Best Coffee to Starbucks in July 2003. However, AFC Enterprises kept the rights to open franchises in eleven countries, Hawaii, and U.S. military bases.
Starbucks closed the Vashon Island roasting facility on October 23, 2003. They moved all the coffee production to their roasting facility in Kent, Washington. The old Vashon Island building, which still has Jim Stewart's original 1952 roaster, is no longer connected to Seattle's Best Coffee or Starbucks. It was bought and reopened as "The Vashon Island Coffee Roasterie." The owner of an organic food store moved her business there. Peter Larsen, who was the coffee roast master at the old Seattle's Best facility, still works there.
On October 18, 2022, Starbucks sold Seattle's Best Coffee to Nestlé.
Where You Can Find Seattle's Best Coffee
Seattle's Best Coffee has partnered with many different businesses over the years.
Coffee in Bookstores and Stores
The Borders bookstore chain signed a deal with Seattle's Best Coffee in 2004. This meant that the cafes inside Borders stores would become Seattle's Best cafes. By 2006, about two-thirds of Borders' large stores had made this change. Starbucks, which owned Seattle's Best at the time, also had a deal with Borders' competitor, Barnes & Noble, to sell its products in Barnes & Noble's cafes. (Borders stores have since closed down.) Starbucks also has locations inside Chapters and Indigo Books and Music stores in Canada.
Seattle's Best Coffee cafes were also found in larger JCPenney department stores. This started when the company made a deal in the late 1990s to have cafes inside these stores.
Coffee on Cruise Ships and Fast Food
You can also find Seattle's Best Coffee cafes and kiosks on all 21 ships of the Royal Caribbean International cruise line. They are called "Latte-Tudes" or "Cafe Promenade." All the free coffee on these ships is also from Seattle's Best. The very large Oasis class ships also have Starbucks stores, where you pay regular prices. But Seattle's Best coffee is included in the cruise cost.
On February 16, 2010, Burger King announced that they would start selling Seattle's Best Coffee. This happened in over 7,000 of their restaurants.
On May 12, 2010, Starbucks announced a new look for Seattle's Best Coffee. They planned to expand Seattle's Best Coffee to 30,000 locations by the end of 2010. The new logo was simpler and more modern. Some people thought the new logo looked like a label for eye-drops or a gas station sign.
On February 8, 2011, Delta Air Lines and Seattle's Best agreed to offer Seattle's Best Coffee on all Delta flights. This started on March 1, 2011. However, since February 2015, Delta changed its coffee offerings. They now serve Starbucks coffee on all flights instead.
The Swedish fast food chain Max Hamburgers stopped selling Seattle's Best Coffee on November 13, 2019.
See also
- List of coffeehouse chains
