History
Seattle's Best Coffee began as a combination ice cream and coffee shop called the Wet Whisker in Coupeville on Whidbey Island, northwest of Seattle, in 1969.[6] Founder Jim Stewart purchased green coffee beans from local roasters to be roasted and sold at the Wet Whisker. By the end of the second summer, the shop had roasted and sold nearly 500 lbs (226 kg) of coffee. By the end of the following year, the Vashon Island Wet Whisker was sold, and Jim Stewart, along with his brother Dave, opened another ice cream and coffee store on Pier 70 on Seattle's Waterfront. The shop was called Stewart Brothers Wet Whisker. In 1982, it began serving espresso based beverages alongside other coffee products.
In 1983, the name again changed from Stewart Brothers Wet Whisker to Stewart Brothers Coffee. Shortly after, business began to expand, and new shops opened in Bellevue, Washington, and at Seattle's historic Pike Place Market a year later. In 1991, the company was renamed "Seattle's Best Coffee" after winning a local competition.
Around 1995, the company was purchased by a group of investors who own Torrefazione Italia. They formed a new company made up of both parties called Seattle Coffee Holdings. In 1997, Seattle Coffee Holdings changed its name to Seattle Coffee Company. In 1998, AFC Enterprises purchased Seattle Coffee Holdings and began franchising the Seattle's Best Coffee brand. During AFC Enterprises' ownership, Seattle Coffee Company's Vashon Island roasterie was upgraded and the company's organic coffee line was established. AFC Enterprises sold SBC to Starbucks in July 2003, retaining franchise rights in eleven countries, Hawaii and U.S. military bases.[7]
Starbucks closed the Vashon Island facility on October 23, 2003, and moved production to their Kent, Washington, roastery. SBC had previously stored beans at the Port of Seattle and transported them to Vashon for roasting, which was deemed insufficient for the company's needs.[8] The historic Vashon Island roastery building which includes Jim Stewart's original 1952 roaster, while no longer affiliated with SBC or Starbucks, was bought and reopened as "The Vashon Island Coffee Roasterie" when the owner of The Minglement, an organic foods, herbs, and spices store, decided to move her store to a larger store.[9] This store continues to employ Peter Larsen, the coffee roast master who worked at this store when it was previously part of Seattle's Best Coffee.[9]
On October 18, 2022, Starbucks sold Seattle's Best Coffee to Nestlé.[4]
