Ultra premium coffee. It's that simple.

From a single store in 1997, Coffee Partners Ltd, owners of the San Francisco Coffee brand, has grown to over 75 outlets around Asia today. We've succeeded because we're passionate about coffee, food, and service -- the reasons you visit our shops in Japan, Malaysia, Philippines, and Singapore. You'll be happy to know we're constantly looking at new markets too and plan to continue our expansion around the region.

One of the early food and beverage reviewers of SFCC said it best. "San Francisco Coffee is the place where the coffee struts its stuff, not the customers." We believe in Fresh, Top of the Crop® coffee. That's what we do.

So we set about developing a concept that would focus on coffee, food, and service quality. We held design contests to get the ambience and feel right. We held focus groups to help us really know what's important to our customers, and we rejected the American specialty coffee imperialism, the we-know-better-than-you attitude. It has worked -- we've been competing successfully with much bigger and much older companies since we began business in 1998. We're now the only company besides Starbucks in Asia with company-owned outlets in four countries, and we're expanding because our customers -- you and your friends and family -- love our coffee, love our food, and love being served by our people.

Coffee. We buy ultra premium coffee, roast it by hand in small batches, and serve it fresh in our stores. It's that simple. We have no tie-ups with large coffee farms. Like the grapes that make wine, coffee is an agricultural crop that some years is good at a particular farm, some years is not so good. We could save money by tying up with a large estate or two, but by keeping our independence, we're able to source the best -- "vintage" -- coffees from wherever they're growing this year. Three of our Coffee Board members serve as international judges on the Cup of Excellence® juries that select the best coffees in origin countries annually. That's three more people than any other specialty coffee company in Asia, ex-Japan. We've recently been part of that process in Brazil, Guatemala, and Nicaragua. This year we'll be in Costa Rica and Columbia. And we're continually doing more of this. Look for our Cup of Excellence® coffees in our shops - you won't find these anywhere else. We pay a large premium for these coffees and pass a small amount of that premium on to you, but you've told us you find these coffees worth it.

Frappés. Our customers love our frappés. Our Extreme Latte® and Extreme Mocha® Frisco Frappés® are consistently rated tops in the industry, probably because we make them with the same great coffee we serve in all our espresso drinks. We know you can tell the difference.

Food. French guys make our food. No kidding. French guys, Italian guys, Germans, an Aussie or two. We get a large part of our food from the best chefs in the cities where we're located. We do the coffee. We could save a lot of money doing the food too, but Francois does it better.

People. We employ almost 1,000 people in Asia alone, the vast majority of them degree or diploma holders or in school working towards that. Some learned the hotel business in Switzerland, some read Philosophy at Cambridge. They all have a few things in common -- shares in our company, bigger smiles, better pay, and better love for service. It's that simple.

Prices. Why are our prices so reasonable compared to those of our competitors? We're not a franchise. Your local "US Coffee" franchisee may be paying some 5% or more of his takings to his big brother in Seattle. Now you know.