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A Washington State coffee road trip, Bellingham to Spokane

Roasters' own cafes along I-5 and I-90, with the addresses they publish. Checked September 27, 2026.

The route

This Washington State coffee road trip runs down Interstate 5 from Bellingham to Olympia, then crosses the state on Interstate 90 to Spokane. Every stop is a cafe or shop run by a roaster we list as a local favorite, at the address the roaster publishes, checked September 27, 2026.

I-5 spans the state from the Canadian border at Blaine to the southern state line at Vancouver, and inside the Seattle metro area it links Everett, Seattle and Tacoma. I-90 is the only interstate that connects Seattle and Spokane, crossing the Cascades at Snoqualmie Pass and passing Ellensburg and Moses Lake on the way. We give no drive times; plan them yourself, and check each cafe's hours before you set out. A listing does not mean the roaster is part of the club.

Bellingham and Burlington

Start in downtown Bellingham at the Camber Coffee flagship, 221 West Holly Street. It opened in July 2017, is open every day from 8 am to 2 pm and has a kitchen, so it works as breakfast before the road. Camber roasts in Bellingham, and so does Zoka Coffee, but Zoka's roastery is not open to visitors. You will pass one of its cafes later.

Head south into Skagit County for Fidalgo Coffee Roasters at 856 North Hill Blvd in Burlington. The roastery has a retail shop open Monday to Friday, 10 am to 3 pm. This is a bean stop more than a cafe stop: pick up whichever seasonal blend is on the shelf.

Kirkland, Seattle and Renton

Zoka's Kirkland cafe, open since 2009, is at 129 Central Way. From there, Seattle has more roaster-run cafes than one day allows. Three that put you next to the roaster:

  • Lighthouse Roasters, 400 N 43rd St in Fremont. Roasting since 1993 in the same corner building as the cafe.
  • Herkimer Coffee, 7320 Greenwood Ave N on Phinney Ridge. The first cafe, the roastery and the wholesale office share one building.
  • Caffe Vita, 1005 E Pike St on Capitol Hill. You can watch the vintage Probat roasters at work.

The rest are in our Seattle cafe guide. Before leaving the metro, stop at Boon Boona Coffee at 724 S 3rd Street, Suite C, in downtown Renton. The shop is both the roastery and a cafe, open every day, and every coffee it roasts is from Africa.

Sumner, Tacoma and Olympia

Dillanos Coffee Roasters in Sumner has no cafe, but if you order online you can pick the bag up at the roastery, 1620 45th Street E.

Tacoma has two Bluebeard Coffee Roasters stops. The original cafe at 2201 6th Ave is open daily. The roastery and cafe at 5428 S Tacoma Way fills a rebuilt 100 year old furniture showroom, open Tuesday to Sunday mornings with a shorter Monday morning. Olympia Coffee also has a Tacoma cafe in the Proctor District, at 2601 N Proctor.

End the I-5 leg in Olympia at Olympia Coffee Roasting, 600 4th Ave E, where the downtown cafe shares the building with the roastery and is open daily. Come on the first Friday of the month for a public cupping. Olympia's other two cafes are at 2824 Capitol Boulevard and 1706 Harrison Ave NW. Olympia Coffee has roasted in this town since 2005 and became a Certified B Corporation in 2018. While downtown, find the artesian well on 4th Avenue: a local coffee roaster backed the effort to protect it in 1991.

Over the pass to Spokane

Turn back north and take I-90 east. The payoff at the far end is Indaba Coffee Roasters, with four Spokane cafes:

  • Monroe Cafe, 2020 N Monroe St, Suite A, next door to the roastery. The flagship cafe and roastery opened here in 2024.
  • West Central, 1425 W Broadway Ave. The original cafe, opened in the fall of 2009.
  • Kendall Yards, 1315 W Summit Pkwy, run with Fleet Feet.
  • Downtown, 518 W Riverside Ave.

Indaba began by pouring guest roasters' coffee and started roasting its own in house in 2014. Buy a bag of the Lilac City Blend, named for Spokane's nickname, and the trip ends with the state's east side in your kitchen.

Coffee history along the way

Some places on or near this route matter for what happened there rather than for a cup today:

  • Coupeville, on Whidbey Island: Seattle's Best Coffee began here in 1969 as the Wet Whisker, an ice cream and coffee shop.
  • Pike Place Market, Seattle: the first Starbucks opened at 2000 Western Avenue on March 30, 1971. Our post on the first Starbucks tells that story.
  • Kent: the first Tully's opened here in September 1992. Its US cafes closed in 2018.
  • Buckley: Dillanos began in 1992 as an espresso cart outside the Sunshine Mart, before it moved its roasting to Sumner.
  • Ellensburg, on I-90: D&M Coffee started in 1990 in a small Scamp trailer turned into a mobile espresso bar.

More dates are in Washington State coffee history.

After the trip

Every stop on this route is a Washington business paying Washington wages, and a bag bought at the counter goes straight to the people who roasted it. That is what supporting local roasters means in practice.

To keep tasting the state once you are home, Palouse Coffee Club sends a bag from a different independent Washington roaster every 2 or 4 weeks, roasted to order and shipped in the roaster's own bag. $16.99 a bag. First bag free, you pay $7.99 shipping. Build your box.

Sources

By Joe McRose, Palouse Coffee Club. Updated September 2026.