Seattle's Best Coffee

This entry refers to a departed business that has closed or left town. All information here is for historical reference only.

 

Seattle's Best Coffee was the cafe located inside of Borders. They served the usual coffee and tea drinks plus a limited selection of sweets and sandwiches. They had many comfy chairs and a good number of tables. It was a popular study spot; in the past, Borders enforced a strict one hour time limit to reduce the number of studiers, but new management eliminated that rule. Studiers, readers and chatters can now stay as long as they like. Wireless internet access was free.

While Borders has always had a cafe, it has not always been a Seattle's Best. An old Borders "Frequent Drink Card" simply says "Cafe Espresso", which was likely their in-house brand.

Seattle's Best Coffee was bought by Starbucks in 2003, but Seattle's Best still uses their own unique brand of smooth roasted coffee beans. The coffee beans used by Seattle's Best have a different flavor than Starbucks. The employees at the cafe are all Borders employees. Borders contracted in 2004 to turn all their in-store cafes into licensed Seattle's Best Coffee cafes, thus the branding of the cafe and all cups, napkins, etc, is Seattle's Best Coffee, despite Borders being from Ann Arbor, Michigan. The cafe does not accept Starbucks gift cards, but they do accept Borders gift cards. Amusingly, Borders' competitor Barnes and Noble brews Starbucks Coffee in their in-store cafes and also does not accept Starbucks gift cards since the cafes are owned and operated by Barnes and Noble.

Borders announced in May 2011 that they were going to end their licensing agreement with Seattle's Best Coffee. Borders planned to operate their own in-store cafes. link

The cafe permanently closed in July of 2011 just before liquidators took control of all of the remaining Borders stores.

You can now find Seattle's Best Coffee at Subway and Burger King.

2006-09-13 09:04:47   During the summer when the flies are out, Border's is the only place without flies. I don't know how they do it, but this is the place to study in July. Also, their hot chocolate is amazing. It comes with chocolate shavings, whipped cream, then a random piece of dark chocolate. It's a dessert, a beverage and caffeine all in one cup. —AmyGoogenspa

2008-03-06 21:16:30   They have a great blended coffee drink called the Oreo Cookie Javakula. It tastes like a light Oreo Cookie milkshake. They also have Orange Mango and Strawberry. They can be made with or without coffee. They also have a hot caramel apple cider. It tastes like hot apple pie. —Jedron

2008-03-30 20:39:51   The hot chocolate is quite excellent here, pretty relaxing atmosphere —LizMelack

2008-05-18 23:38:46   Way better than Starbucks! The Javakula's are good and the latte's are great. Try the Javanilla, it's delicious! Made with icecream and coffee, you can't go wrong. It doesn't come in a small though, only medium and large. Overall, everything is great. Even the customer service. It's also a great place to study! = ) —LupeDaya

2009-01-17 22:09:49   Best hot chocolate ever. Period. —JeremyDutch

2009-09-15 13:14:54   There are small cockroaches in the puffy brown seats (reading area) by the window. Not sure if this is Seattles's Best Coffee's area or Borders. —Alex

2010-02-13 16:35:03   This place is pretty nice. The selection on Tea is a bit small though. The DO have free wireless (just accept their terms and conditions) which is contrary to what this wikipage currently says (so ill change it after leaving this comment).

They also have a Borders reward card thing going on, where you buy a certain amount of drinks and you get the next one free. pretty cool.

the one down side to this Seattles Best Coffee is the lack of Electrical Outlets. If youre looking for a place to plug in your laptop its best to either charge it before you come or go to another place.

—JBernard

2010-07-07 17:33:08   Mostly wonderful well-meaning over-worked employees. Do not be surprised if one person is taking the orders and preparing drinks for a whole queue of people. The coffee is VERY GOOD. The breakfast sandwiches are a pleasant surprise. They have spinach in with the egg; pretty tasty, with no noticeable grease. No good muffins or croissants unfortunately. This place is very hospitable to people who come in to use the air conditioning, power, and wifi without buying anything, which can be a littler disconcerting considering they take up a lot of room. Leather chairs for relaxing or tables and chairs for meeting. Orange-cream and rootbeerish soda pops and bottled teas and juices are sold in addition to the coffee drinks. I think the blended drinks are way too sweet, but my cohort likes them fine. Good chocolate chip cookies. Good air quality in the building if you are avoiding pollen. —seesharp

2010-07-23 01:49:02   Delicious! Great coffee, other drinks, and food and great employee's :) —Saher

2013-10-15 17:20:39   Best coffee drinks around, shame they had to go. —MikeFolf