Seattle's Best Coffee, a wholly owned subsidiary of Starbucks, is a specialty coffee retailer and wholesaler based in Seattle, Washington. Seattle's Best Coffee has retail stores and grocery sub-stores in 20 states and provinces and the District of Columbia. Sub-stores can also be found within many other businesses and college campuses, including J.C. Penney department stores and Subway restaurants. Seattle's Best Coffee is generally cheaper than that of its parent, and is marketed as more of a working class coffee compared to the more upmarket Starbucks. Seattle's Best Coffee began as a... combination ice cream and coffee shop called the Wet Whisker on Vashon Island, Southwest of Seattle, Washington. 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 pounds of coffee. By the end of 1970, 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.
more