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A new Sweetwaters Coffee & Tea is finally open in Frisco!

Sweetwaters Coffee & Tea | 13030 Preston Road Suite 100, Frisco, TX After two years of supply chain issues, delays, and navigating a global pandemic, Sweetwaters Coffee & Tea has finally cut the ribbon on their Frisco location! Though the roa
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Sweetwaters Coffee & Tea | 13030 Preston Road Suite 100, Frisco, TX


After two years of supply chain issues, delays, and navigating a global pandemic, Sweetwaters Coffee & Tea has finally cut the ribbon on their Frisco location!

Though the road to opening this location was rough, the owners believe that this is just the start of something great for northern Frisco.

sweetwaters coffee & tea, frisco
The ribbon-cutting ceremony at Sweetwaters Coffee & Tea in Frisco.

Sweetwaters Coffee & Tea offers a variety of coffees, teas, lemonades, and baked goods. Founded by Wei and Lisa Bee, Sweetwaters opened its first store in Michigan and now boasts over 35 locations all over the US, with 8 in Texas and 5 of those in the DFW Metroplex.

Their newest location on Preston Road addresses a growing need for a thriving coffee scene during the massive influx of new residents. It also provides a communal space that doesn’t take ages to drive to from the outskirts of Frisco.

sweetwaters coffee & tea
House blends from Sweetwaters Coffee & Tea. | Courtesy of Sweetwaters Coffee & Tea on Facebook

The franchise owner of Sweetwaters Coffee & Tea in Frisco, Debra Mitchell, expressed that she absolutely loves all of the regular customers she already has, especially from the neighborhood directly behind their retail space. She says that the drive-thru is a huge draw for daily customers, and the many seating options encourage working and socializing.

“I love sitting here and looking at the art,” Debra gestures to the landscape photographs lining one wall. ”People can purchase them, and we don’t keep a cent; all of it goes to the local artist.”

Although she seems to be a natural coffee shop owner, this adventure only recently started for Debra. Raised in England and Germany, Debra’s study and consequent love of mathematics got her hired at an engineering company in the tiny town of Frisco more than 20 years ago. Debra remembers being the only girl out of hundreds of students for her STEM classes and being one of the few women in the industry at the time.

Now she has transitioned from a woman in STEM to a woman in business: an early retirement in 2019 forced Debra to look into new career paths, one of which was franchising.

"I want to leave something for my boys,” Debra explained. “Something that, when I’m gone, they’ll love doing and will sustain them.” Debra has three sons, two of whom said hello in between pulling espresso shots, and the youngest was away at university studying medicine. The coffee shop, whose ribbon cutting was the 3rd of March, is not only her legacy but also part of a much bigger picture.

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The loose-leaf tea selection at Sweetwaters Coffee & Tea in Frisco. | Courtesy of Sweetwaters Coffee & Tea on Facebook

“They handpick everything, from the teas to the sweets to the coffee blends,” Debra says, and let me sniff multiple kinds of teas and sample one of their signature Ice Dragons, a delicious blend of espresso, mocha, and cream topped with mocha sauce and whipped cream.

“We make the whipped cream by hand,” Debra was quick to inform, and it certainly tasted exactly how she described it: made with the utmost care.

Debra explains that the founders of Sweetwaters Coffee & Tea, Wei and Lisa Bee, attended the grand opening and were involved in hiring and setting up the Frisco store. She hopes that the northern Preston Road location will attract the students of the newest University of North Campus location, whose newly finished first of five buildings looms over the trees and constructions crews milling about across the street.

“I want a place for them to study or hang out,” Debra says. “We’ll have game nights and extended hours, as well as providing reading materials such as magazines and newspapers.”

sweetwaters coffee & tea
Stay a while at Sweetwaters Coffee & Tea in Frisco. Hot or cold, they're got the drink for you! | Courtesy of Sweetwaters Coffee & Tea on Facebook

On the topic of actually getting the doors open, Debra tells of supply shortages and delayed shipping, and a certain worldwide disaster that stalled the opening of the store. “We couldn’t get the computer chips to turn the lights on, and it’s no fun making coffee in the dark,” Debra laughs. “Not to mention getting all the baked goods and pastries, the contractors got sick, and it’s no good hiring people when you can’t have a solid opening date. We were supposed to be opening last September, and we didn’t even have the lights on [un]til December.”

Despite all of the delays, Sweetwaters Coffee & Tea in Frisco is open and ready with a drive-thru, plenty of tables and seating, and DoorDash and the app set up so you can have it delivered or order ahead. Check them out at the Shops at Creekside on Preston Road.

Sweetwaters Coffee & Tea | 13030 Preston Road Suite 100, Frisco, TX


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