Seattle's Best Coffee

Location

Inside of Borders

Hours

Closes about half an hour before Borders closes

Phone

(530) 750-3723

Website

http://www.seattlesbest.com/

Payment Methods

Cash, Credit Cards, Borders gift cards

Established

2005

Seattle's Best Coffee is the cafe located inside of Borders. They serve the usual coffee and tea drinks plus a limited selection of sweets and sandwiches. They have many comfy chairs and a good number of tables. It is 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 is not 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.

Comments:

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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