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Come One, Come All: Seattle's Best Coffee is traveling nationwide in search of the most imaginative new coffee drinks. Fairgoers, cooks and coffee enthusiasts can enter live Red Cup Showdown competitions at participating state fairs, or compete in the Facebook competition for a shot at up to $10,000 in prizes. (Graphic: Business Wire)

Step Right Up to the Red Cup Showdown: Celebrity Chef Jeff Mauro teams up with Seattle's Best Coffee to host the Red Cup Showdown, a cross-country search at state fairs and on Facebook for the most imaginative new coffee drink offering up to $10,000 in prizes. (Photo: Business Wire)

SEATTLE, June 19, 2012 - Because nothing says red, white and delicious like the State Fair, Seattle’s Best Coffee, part of Starbucks Corporation (NASDAQ:SBUX), is teaming up with celebrity chef Jeff Mauro to launch the Red Cup Showdown – a coast-to-coast search at state fairs and on Facebook to find the most imaginative new coffee drink. The grand prize winner will be awarded with $10,000 and the chance to have their coffee drink featured at Seattle’s Best Coffee locations across North America.

“From chicken fried bacon to red velvet funnel cake, State Fairs are a hotbed of cooking creativity,” said Jeff Mauro, celebrity chef. “There’s no better place to go to see how Seattle’s Best Coffee can be shaken up, turned upside down and transformed into something we’ve never tasted before. I can’t wait to meet some great people and see what they bring to the table for the Red Cup Showdown.”

Seattle’s Best Coffee and Jeff Mauro will embark on a 3,000-mile journey to host Red Cup Showdown live competitions alongside custard pie contests, brownie bake-offs and strawberry jam competitions at five state fairs across the nation.

“Every summer more than 100 million Americans* take their taste buds for a ride at the fairs,” said Chris Bruzzo, chief marketing officer, Seattle’s Best Coffee. “The fair is home of the unimaginable and undeniably delicious. We can’t wait to see how local cooks have reinvented our coffee, and also give fairgoers a taste of our fair-inspired drinks.”

All fairgoers will be able to get ice cold coffee and more at the Seattle’s Best Coffee exhibit on the midway. Fairgoers will be able to cool off with a free iced coffee drink from a lip-licking lineup of choices, including Cotton Candy Mochas, Elephant Ear Lattes and Carmel Pretzel Mochas. In addition, fairgoers will be able to pose for a free souvenir digital photo inside a life-sized red mug, take a spin at the prize wheel loaded with thousands of dollars’ worth of prizes and receive a free sample of Seattle’s Best Coffee® coffee to brew at home.

Tune In to the Red Cup Showdown on Facebook

The thrills and chills of the Red Cup Showdown live competitions will be viewable on Seattle’s Best Coffee’s Facebook page. Fans will be able to follow the journey with host Jeff Mauro as he judges contestants from each state fair who will compete to win. Tune into Facebook for the first episode to find out who takes home the blue ribbon at the California State Fair.

Entering the Red Cup Showdown

Seattle’s Best Coffee is looking for blue ribbon-worthy entries – from a tribute to Midwestern comfort food, to a Wild-West adventure, to coffee drinks inspired by favorite fair foods, classic candies or even sandwiches. There are two ways to enter the Red Cup Showdown: cooks can enter to participate in a live competition at one of the state fair stops, or they can compete in the Facebook competition. The Facebook competition call for entries will run through July 27. The contest is open to all US and Canadian residents 18 years or older. For more information on how to enter and official rules, visit www.facebook.com/seattlesbestcoffee.

How to Win the Red Cup Showdown

Five finalists will be named from the state fair competitions, one per state, and one finalist will be named from the Facebook contest. A panel of judges will select the finalists based on use of Seattle’s Best Coffee®, appetite appeal, uniqueness and the story behind the coffee drink idea. The six finalists will win a trip to New York City where they battle for the grand prize in the finale Red Cup Showdown live competition on Aug. 23. The public will also be able to vote on their favorite finalist Aug. 18-22. The grand-prize winning coffee drink will be selected based on the vote of the judging panel, as well as Facebook votes.

* Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (accessed 6/15/2012)

About Seattle’s Best Coffee

Seattle’s Best Coffee LLC has been roasting premium coffee since 1970 and today roasts more than 20 million pounds of coffee every year and millions of cups of our coffee are served every day. A freshly-brewed cup of Seattle’s Best Coffee is currently available in more than 50,000 locations including cafes, college campuses, restaurants, hotels, airlines, cruise ships, grocery stores and movie theatres. Seattle’s Best Coffee is a featured brand within Starbucks Corporation (NASDAQ: SBUX). For more information, please visit Seattle’s Best Coffee online at www.seattlesbest.com, become a member of the coffee community at www.facebook.com/SeattlesBestCoffee or follow Seattle’s Best Coffee on Pinterest for unique coffee inspiration at www.pinterest.com/seattlesbest. For information about our retail franchise opportunity, please visit www.seattlesbest.com.

About Jeff Mauro

Born in 1978 in Chicago, IL, Jeff Mauro was instantly into making Sandwiches. One of his first creations was a ‘Mother's Milk Sub,’ made with wilted arugula, seared fig and a wonderful balsamic reduction. All kidding aside, Jeff spent his formative years obsessed with both food and comedy. Aside from being a class clown, he performed in school plays, Second City Chicago youth programs, and attended whatever acting classes his parent’s enrolled him in.

Utilizing his BA in communications from Bradley University, he opened up a deli with his cousin. At night, he satisfied his performing bug playing the role ‘Tony’ in the Chicago production of Tony and Tina's Weddings. With both his professional cooking knowledge as well as his acting and improv skills polished, he moved to Los Angeles in an attempt to meld his two loves - cooking and comedy. After a few years on the scene, he threw in the towel and enrolled in culinary school. Jeff decided to return to Chicago, where he worked at local restaurants, got married, had a baby, and landed himself on Season 7 of Food Network Star, which he totally won.

Jeff Mauro is now the host of Food Network's highly rated Sandwich King. Here he showcases the art form that is sandwich making by turning any sandwich into a meal, and any meal into a sandwich. He loves his spending time with his large family, playing blues guitar and roughhousin’ with his three-year-old son Lorenzo. His favorite color is pastrami.

Photos/Multimedia Gallery Available: http://www.businesswire.com/cgi-bin/mmg.cgi?eid=50315320&lang=en

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