Seattle hasn’t always been the center of the coffee universe. In fact, we used to serve as much bad coffee as the rest of the country. This began to change in the early ’70s, when our founder bought a secondhand peanut roaster and started roasting Arabica coffee at the Wet Whisker on Seattle’s Pier 70. His personal tastes in coffee were simple—he wanted it to be bold and full-flavored, but also smooth and mellow. So that’s how he roasted and blended his coffee—bold and smooth. After the coffee craze took off in Seattle, a local restaurant held a taste-off among the major roasters to crown “the best cup of coffee in Seattle.” Much to our delight, our coffee took first place. To celebrate the occasion, we changed our name to Seattle’s Best Coffee. Today, good coffee is fashionable everywhere, but we still believe that our customers prefer Seattle’s Best Coffee because of its Uncommonly Smooth™ taste.
Where we get our coffee
Great coffee begins with great coffee beans, but then, there are billions of beans out there. So it really begins with selecting the right beans grown under the right conditions. Being from the Pacific Northwest, we’re kind of outdoorsy, which is good because to find the right beans, you have to tromp through some pretty rugged locations in places like Central America, Indonesia and Africa. When the Northwest weather turns cold and rainy, our coffee buyers head for the tropics to renew old friendships with some of the best growers in the world. We use Arabica beans, grown around 5,000 feet, because their slower, more even maturation creates a fuller, more complex flavor. And we buy coffee from folks who are committed to sustainable and equitable farming practices—which is a fancy way of saying that they treat the planet and the growers nicely.
Bold flavors, Uncommonly Smooth™ taste
To roast fine coffee well, it takes years of experience. Roast too dark and your coffee turns bitter. Roast too light and the full flavor of the beans isn’t unlocked. Sounds like a catch-22, but we found a loophole. We call it smooth roasting. Ask our roasters exactly how they do it and the answer can get pretty complicated, pretty fast. They adjust their technique for each blend, getting the most out of the beans to create coffees that are full-flavored, yet Uncommonly Smooth™ and well balanced. Let’s just call it our secret and agree that enjoying good coffee doesn’t have to be complicated—it just has to be good.
Henry the cat
The day we started roasting our first espresso blend in the ’70s, a furry visitor trotted up to our doorstep, sniffing the air. There was definitely something special about this friendly orange tabby that showed up every time the beans hit the roaster. We started calling him Henry, after another Henry with a nose for great coffee. Henry the cat eventually became our official company mascot, dropping by every day to check on the roasts, get some attention and take advantage of his milk-tasting benefits. And when our first roast was ready for a name, the obvious and only choice was Henry’s Blend®—still a popular blend today.
Anchored on Vashon
On an island in Puget Sound, accessible only by ferry, pleasure boat or kayak, you’ll find the original location and roasting facilities for Seattle’s Best Coffee. This is Vashon Island, and Seattle’s Best Coffee started here almost 40 years ago. Our original store is just about 8 miles from the ferry landing, right along the main road. Back in the day, you could find a pot of freshly brewed coffee set out on the front porch (and a dog sleeping nearby). The locals used to swing by, drop their 50 cents into the jar and get their day going. People are pretty laid back on Vashon, except when it comes to roasting coffee. Then things get pretty passionate. Even today, if you take your bike over there on the ferry, you’re bound to run into one of our founders, sitting out somewhere with a cup of one our Uncommonly Smooth™ coffees, talking about roasts gone by and blends we still like to call Seattle’s Best Coffee.
Seattle’s Best Coffee was founded in 1970 and retains a strong link to Seattle and the Pacific Northwest coffee culture, serving as the company’s home region for more than 38 years. Seattle’s Best Coffee’s signature roasting technique delivers a rich and balanced Uncommonly Smooth™ taste. The company roasts only the finest high-quality Arabica beans, specifically selected to create a broad product portfolio, including blends, single origin, organic and flavored coffee offerings that help to satisfy the variety-seeking nature of coffee consumers.
Seattle’s Best Coffee offers more than 30 whole bean and ground coffees, including flavored, organic and Fair Trade Certified™ coffees, espresso beverages, Seattle’s Best Coffee’s signature hand-crafted JavaKula® blended beverage line, OvenSong™ warm sandwiches and select merchandise. In addition, Seattle’s Best Coffee offers RedCane Kola™—the Company’s refreshing kola made to order with premium natural ingredients—available in 160 select cafes across the U.S.
As of May 2008 there are more than 540 cafes in the U.S. and 86 Seattle’s Best Coffee Express™ espresso bars—a new self-service concept. In addition, Seattle’s Best Coffee is available in the U.S. nationwide in supermarkets and at more than 3,900 foodservice locations, such as college campuses, restaurants, hotels and cruise lines.
Company Timeline Brief
1970 Smooth roasting begins on Seattle’s Pier 70 at the Wet Whisker with a 12-pound roaster purchased from a beachside peanut vender in Southern California.
1983 Numerous Wet Whisker cafes continue to open in the Pacific Northwest and one in Steamboat Springs, Colorado.
The roaster on Pier 70 is moved to Vashon Island. Wet Whisker is renamed Stewart Brothers Coffee.
1987 Introduces flavored coffee lineup.
1989 Stewart Brothers Coffee is renamed Seattle’s Best Coffee after winning a local competition.
1991 Seattle’s Best Coffee introduces organic whole bean coffee lineup.
2003 Seattle Coffee Company is acquired by Starbucks Corporation, including Seattle’s Best Coffee and Torrefazione Italia Coffee.
2004 Kraft Foods announces an agreement to bring Seattle’s Best Coffee into supermarkets nationwide.
2004 Seattle’s Best Coffee and Borders Books and Music announce a licensing agreement to open Seattle’s Best Coffee cafes in existing and new Borders stores.
2005 Borders opens the first of more than 400 Seattle’s Best Coffee cafes in the U.S.
2005 Seattle’s Best Coffee is available in grocery stores nationwide.
2007 Seattle’s Best Coffee opens 500th cafe and becomes the second largest roaster and retailer of specialty coffee in the U.S., based on points of distribution in retail cafes, foodservice accounts and where you buy groceries.
Seattle’s Best Coffee Express™ self-service espresso bars open.
Who we are
Seattle’s Best Coffee was started in 1970, and over the past 30 years has grown into a global coffee company. Our corporate headquarters are in Seattle, Washington, and our cafes are found throughout the world. Seattle’s Best Coffee operates under the name Seattle Coffee Company, which is owned by Starbucks Corporation, the leading retailer, roaster and brand of specialty coffee in the world.
Corporate opportunities
Click to view available positions at Seattle’s Best Coffee. (Please note: this link will take you to our parent company’s site—please click the back key on your browser to return to this page.)
Retail opportunities
Career opportunities in our cafes include Barista, Assistant Cafe Manager, and Cafe Manager positions.
Click here to find cafe locations.
Benefits
Seattle’s Best Coffee places great value on our people and offers competitive wages and a comprehensive benefits package.
Submitting a resume
We’d love to hear from you. To submit a resume, please send an e-mail with your resume attached to sccjobs@starbucks.com (Text format only, no attachments please).
If you would like to mail your resume, please send it to:
Seattle Coffee Company
c/o Starbucks
2401 Utah Ave S, SB-1
Seattle, WA 98134
Seattle Coffee Company (Seattle’s Best Coffee and Torrefazione Italia Coffee) is an Equal Employment Opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, national origin, gender, age, religion, disability, sexual orientation, veteran status, or marital status. All job offers contingent upon a satisfactory pre-employment background check.
Due to the large volume of resumes we receive, we regret that we are unable to contact every candidate. However, qualified candidates will be contacted.
Making a difference.
With Seattle’s Best Coffee, you can satisfy the ever-increasing demand for socially and environmentally responsible coffees and support coffee-growing communities while serving premium smooth-roasted coffee. We’ve been committed to responsible coffee-growing and purchasing practices longer than some coffee companies have been around. And we’re making it easy for you to show your commitment, too.
Fair Trade and Organic Certification
We’re proud to offer a premium assortment of Fair Trade Certified™ and certified organic coffees. We choose to work with farmers who want to grow the best coffees. Through our purchases and investments in social projects, we help sustain the health and education of farmers and their communities. We support Fair Trade, organic and responsible practices. The result is not just the best coffee we can source, roast and deliver; it’s also coffee you can be proud to serve.
Fair Trade Certified™ ensures that the farmers who grow the coffee are paid an established minimum price for the beans we buy.
WSDA Certified Organic means that the coffee is grown according to strict, sustainable standards.
Our Fair Trade Certified and Organic Coffees
- Organic Sumatra — Rich, deep body with hints of cocoa.
- Fair Trade Certified™ Organic House Blend — Delicious medium roast and body, wonderfully smooth.
- Organic Breakfast Blend — Medium-bodied with a roasty sweetness and elegant flavor.
- Fair Trade Certified™ Decaf Organic Twilight® — Roasty aroma with a deep, bold flavor.
- Fair Trade Certified™ Organic French Roast — Intense and bittersweet, with hints of dark chocolate.
- Fair Trade Certified™ Vanilla Bean — A perfect pairing of smooth, bold coffee and rich, exotic vanilla.
Got an idea? Drop us a line.
We’d love to hear from you. Send us your feedback through our online comment form, or read on for more ways to get in touch.
General Inquiries
Seattle’s Best Coffee
Guest Relations
P.O. Box 3717
Seattle, WA 98124-8891
Seattle’s Best Coffee Customer Relations
1-800-611-7793
Consumer Affairs
1-800-962-9659
Franchise Customer Service
SBCdevelopment@seattlesbest.com
Foodservice Customer Service
1-800-344-1575
Media Hotline
206-318-7100
press@seattlesbest.com
Just in Time for the Holiday Season, Seattle's Best Coffee
Re-launches www.SeattlesBest.com with Special Online Offer
SEATTLE (Nov. 19, 2008) – Seattle’s Best Coffee celebrates the season filled with Uncommonly Smooth™ coffee and special traditions by bringing back its most popular holiday beverages. Seattle’s Best Coffee’s Peppermint Mocha Trio, Gingerbread Latte and SleighBell Blend coffee smooth the way this season, letting guests savor every moment of this special time of year.
The holidays don't just happen on one day. Instead, they are a series of moments, great and small, that collectively make the season - the smell of pine, that batch of cookies brought over by the neighbors. This year, celebrate the whole season, from poinsettias to presents, and take time to enjoy each moment as a celebration in its own right with a handcrafted beverage from Seattle's Best Coffee.
"An annual guest favorite, the Peppermint Mocha Trio is the perfect beverage to celebrate the holiday cheer," said Steve Hayter, food and beverage director at Seattle's Best Coffee. "Start with a rich, delicious mocha and add cool, refreshing peppermint. The Peppermint Mocha Trio is topped with whipped cream and a sprinkle of crushed peppermint candy making it the ultimate holiday refreshment."
The Gingerbread Latte is also a tasty holiday treat. It combines traditional gingerbread spices with smooth espresso and velvety steamed milk. Topped with whipped cream, dusted with a holiday spice blend and garnished with a crunchy Gingerbread Man cookie, the Gingerbread Latte is a delight. To cut back on calories, order the Gingerbread Latte with Sugar Free Gingerbread Syrup.
Roasted only for the holidays, Seattle's Best Coffee's SleighBell Blend
is an eagerly anticipated tradition. A special combination of medium-full bodied Asia/Pacific and Latin America coffees, SleighBell Blend has an Uncommonly Smooth™, rich taste making it a delicious coffee to experience the moments of the season. With its sweet, complex flavor, SleighBell Blend is perfect for sharing with family and friends over dessert or just sipping by the fire.
Just in time for the return of smooth holiday beverages, Seattle's Best Coffee re-launched the company's web site, www.SeattlesBest.com.
The new web site celebrates the Seattle's Best Coffee brand by highlighting its deep coffee heritage, products and business. To help ring in the season and celebrate the re-launch, Seattle's Best Coffee has a special online offer for its valued guests: Enjoy a complimentary small (12 fl. oz.) beverage with any cafe purchase at participating cafes between November 19th and December 3rd. Print this limited time offer coupon or learn more about this offer and Seattle's Best Coffee's holiday beverages and coffee by visiting the new www.SeattlesBest.com.
About Seattle's Best Coffee
Founded in 1970, Seattle's Best Coffee has more than 540 cafes in the U.S. and its coffee is available nationwide in supermarkets and at more than 3,900 foodservice locations, such as college campuses, restaurants, hotels and cruise lines. Seattle's Best Coffee offers specialty coffee cafes, kiosks, and other concepts throughout the United States. Seattle's Best Coffee operates under the name Seattle Coffee Company, which is owned by Starbucks Corporation, the leading retailer, roaster and brand of specialty coffee in the world.
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