Seattle’s Best Coffee

I usually love Seattle’s Best drip coffee served at Sweet Maple Café. Today I was pressed for time so I stopped at this location since it is in my building’s lobby. I was highly disappointed that I did not go to Starbucks. Anywho, I ordered a large ice coffee and asked for a shot of hazelnut syrup. The syrup overpowered the coffee and left a horrible aftertaste in my mouth. I had to throw away the coffee because it caused me to have a stomach ache.

#5 large is a strong brewed coffee, but they have very tasty seasonal brews. I’ve also purchased some fruit smoothie juices, breakfast sandwiches, and rice krisp-​ies there too. Very nice staff who try to learn your name and do. Also they have a comfortable seating area and outdoor seating in the summer. Close to ATMs and the El. I like their music too mostly. I’ve seen some people hiding out here during their breaks, so that proves it is a pleasant place with good coffee.

Overall: Solid chain coffee option near the Art Institute
Pluses:
* Clean and tidy, perhaps a bit brighter than a Starbucks in its interior design; this is not a place for a date
* Friendly service
* Open early
* Free moderate-​speed wi-​fi (get the password from your receipt) that doesn’t require you to accept legalese that you won’t read anyway.
Minuses:
* Not a lot of character
* Not too much in the way of snacks or chocolate

I agree, this place is like a pared down Starbucks. It’s like it’s almost a Starbucks… but just a slight bit off.
I like the loyalty card. It’s easy, it’s understandable and it’s faster than Starbucks. But, I like that you can get free soymilk with a registered Starbucks card and the other little perks the ‘bucks gives you. So maybe if this wasn’t exactly Starbucks that’s ok but gimme a few perks to make me choose you.
So far I’ve had a few drinks and a few food items and they’ve been pretty tasty.
–UPDATE– June 11, 2012
I still like the coffee here but they’ve changed the food around a few times since they opened. They also don’t like to give you the caloric information. It’s never around, it’s not online and when you call Seattle’s Best main number they say it’s up to the location to have it available for you when you ask. If you do ask they don’t have it and sometimes you get an employee who will just make something up like, «Oh all of those breakfast sandwiches are like 350 calories.» Oh yeah? That seems kind of odd, right?
One day I saw ONE copy of a nutrition information sheet and I grabbed it. In looking at it right now the three breakfast sandwiches listed are 420, 490 and 580 calories.
I went to this location a few weeks back with a friend to get iced coffee (good there) and she asked about the turkey sausage sandwich info. The woman working there brought back a torn bit of the package with the nutritional information on it. We noticed part of a logo there and when we asked the employee what brand it was she replied, «Jimmy Dean».

All right, a new place to get coffee! But how does Seattle’s Best stack up in Chicago?
First of all, SBC is a subsidiary of Starbucks, so one might conclude this is just a Starbucks in disguise. However, while the two coffee emporiums share a corporate overlord, they have different menus and prices.
This Seattle’s Best is brand spankin’ new. It just opened a couple days ago; it’s not even on the company’s website yet! It’s reasonably spacious, bright and airy.
The staff is a tad bit slow still, but seems very friendly. It could be that they are still too new to be disenchanted, or are just excited to have a job. But I hope the enthusiasm lasts.
So far I’ve only had their drip coffee. It was good, not great. I liked it a bit better than their cousin’s. Not as good as Intelligentsia (of course) or Lavazza.
Other stuff…
Pros: They are a bit cheaper than Starbuck’s. They currently have a loyalty card which gives you your 8^th drink free. The cool part is the first 7 drinks can be standard drip coffee and the 8^th free one can be a fru-​fru expensive drink.
Cons: No refill price nor a token discount for bringing your own cup (as their cousin offers). Come on SBC, let’s step up the environmental friendliness a bit!
This was just a first impression review. I’ll update once I’ve been a few more times, and the staff has had a chance to settle in.