Coffee with a view

I am in the midst of a few posts about my favorite coffee memories.  The list will probably contain 5-10 memories at most, but who knows.  It has been fun for me seeing one phase into the next.  There have been a lot of good moments!


I had one of my most memorable cups of coffee ever this summer at Woods Coffee in Bellingham Washington.  The coffee was not something to rave about.  It certainly was not on par with the better shops in town like Avellino and the Black Drop, but it was the setting that made it so special.  The shop is in Boulevard Park. 


If you have never been to Bellingham it is an amazing place.  It is to me what Seattle should be.  A charming college town on the water with a fishing industry that keeps it from becoming artificial or too pristine to be real. 


The food is great and the views are spectacular.  It is half way between Seattle and Vancouver and in the heart of coffee country in the United States.  Every gas station and stand you drive by sells coffee and while I have only gone to a few of them, the average cup is far better there than in my town.


As far as I can tell from my occasional visits, Woods has shot up in the last few years and has in some sense become their new Starbucks.  The baristas care more and are more like Starbucks baristas were ten years ago than the less well trained baristas they have now.  The coffee is slightly better than Starbucks, but not light years ahead of it. 


At this particular branch though, even Starbucks coffee would be good enough.  You buy your cup and ask for a real cup, not paper and then you just take it outside into the park.  They have seating on a patio overlooking the bay, but I decided being 10 feet away from the beach was too far and took my drink out onto the rocky beach. 


I was there with my two kids and my wife and they went down to the water to play.  I brought my wife an Americano and I sipped a cappuccino as I watched the kids marvel at the sea shells, the rocks, and the sailboats. 


Here are links to a few photos that catch the feeling of the bay (they aren’t mine so I don’t want to just assume I can take them)….

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2757/4260905009_21273a216e.jpg

http://www.redbubble.com/people/tamaravaljean/works/3058910-full-sail-ahead

http://www.redbubble.com/people/tamaravaljean/works/3058945-three-boats


If you can make it, I suggest dropping by!  (But if you are going that far make sure to go to Taylor Shelfish farms and buy some of the best oysters in the world).