The Woods Coffee will participate in the America’s Best Coffeehouse competition, sponsored by Coffee Fest and DaVinci Gourmet. The contest determines and acknowledges the top coffeehouses in the west, central and east regions of North America.
The Woods Coffee is one of 20 coffeehouses that will vie for the top spot in the west region, including seven located in Washington state. Woods Coffee is the sole competitor from Whatcom County.
Out of the 20 regional contenders, eight semifinalists will be selected through fan votes and secret-shopper reports to move on to a live competition at Coffee Fest Seattle 2012, held Sept. 21-23.
Woods Coffee owner Wes Herman said it was an honor to be picked for the competition.
“We look forward to seeing if our fans vote us into the top eight to compete for the title at Coffee Fest this year,” Herman said, in a press release. “Competing at Coffee Fest for the title of best coffeehouse in the west would be a great opportunity to show others from up and down the West Coast what we’ve been doing in Whatcom County for the past 10 years, and just why the Northwest is so well known for its coffee.”
Each participating coffeehouse has posted a photo or video submission for the competition on Coffee Fest’s website, where fans can cast votes.
“What we have is a list of the Top-Twenty coffeehouses that we believe any community should be proud to call their own,” said David Heilbrunn, Coffee Fest president, in a statement posted on the Coffee Fest website. “Every year we find the best places to get coffee and we say to ourselves, ‘If only there was a way to share this coffee and the experience with (our fellow Seattleites) and the rest of the coffee drinking universe.’ Here is the list that is twenty of the finest places to get coffee and the voting is left up to you, America.”
Coffee Fest was first held in 1992. Today, it holds annual trade shows in New York, Chicago and Seattle.
The Woods Coffee announced last week it plans to open its 13th Whatcom County location in a vacant building on Lakeway Drive that once housed the Lychee Buffet. The company also expects a new location at the site of the 16-screen movie theater under construction in Bellingham’s Barkley Village to be complete by November.
