Woods Coffee Meridian

Meridian sits on the Guide at Stuart Road, on the northern edge of Bellingham, and its usefulness is entirely about direction of travel. This is the Woods you pass on the way out of the city heading toward Lynden, which is where Wes and Diane Herman started the company in 2002 from a homeschool business plan with their four kids. Driving that road with one of their coffees is a small piece of symmetry.

Beyond the position, what you get here is the chain doing what the chain does. Woods roasts its own coffee and bakes its own pastries across roughly two dozen stores, so the cup is consistent with Lakeway, Barkley and the rest, and the pastry case is filled from the company's own bakery rather than a distributor.

Of the six Bellingham stores this is the least distinguished and the entry says so rather than inventing a reason. Lakeway has the roastery, Boulevard Park has the bay, Barkley has the meeting room, Bakerview has the freeway, King St has the early window and the trailer clearance. Meridian has the road north, and for anyone driving it, that is enough.