Seattle's Best Coffee began as an ice cream shop and coffee shop called Wet Whisker in Coupeville, on Whidbey Island, northwest of Seattle, in 1969. Founder Jim Stewart bought green coffee beans from local roasters to be roasted and sold at Wet Whisker. Starbucks has owned Seattle's Best since 2003, although Seattle's Best dates back to a single coffee shop founded in 1969 on Whidbey Island, northwest of Seattle, under the name of Wet Whisker. He traveled to every coffee farm he could in the world, regardless of their size, to learn and perfect his knowledge about the original coffee trees and traditional cultivation and processing practices. Back in the days of Folgers and Sanka, I didn't know that their dedication to the highest quality coffee beans and their Northern European roasting style in their vintage roasters would highlight a new coffee phenomenon called “specialty coffee”, coveted around the world.
In time, Jim would sell his company to a corporate coffee company, but he maintained his original SBC roasting facility (in Vashon), retaining his original signage, roasting equipment, coffee museum and history. He launched a movement in Seattle that changed what coffee means to people and, in turn, Seattle has become the center of the “specialty coffee industry”. Now retired, he obtains original and rare coffee beans for Eva's company through his Coffee Foundation. SEATTLE Starbucks sells its Seattle's Best Coffee brand to Nestle for an undisclosed amount.
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