VANCOUVER — The shot glasses behind the counter rarely get a break as one drink after another is poured for steely-eyed customers lined up at the bar in this downtown Vancouver establishment every morning, noon and night.
The music and the whirring sound of the espresso machine mingle with the rising voices of the seated patrons getting their caffeine fix in a city that boasts more coffee shops than anywhere else in Canada.
“I’m not sure why, but it may have something to do with the weather because it rains a lot here,” said Kyle Straw, who took a detour from his biological engineering career to become a coffee aficionado and then general manager of the busiest Caffe Artigiano in town.
The Vancouver company that opened its first location in 1999, after U.S.-based Starbucks gained a foothold in the city, now boasts 14 locations, including one in Calgary.
For visitors to the 2010 Winter Olympics, the ubiquitous sight of locals toting cups of coffee like essential accessories will soon become old hat in Canada’s coffee capital, where java joints routinely compete for top spot.
Dozens of brew spots that are part of Vancouver’s indie coffee scene go head to head with the bigger players that include JJ Bean. So Olympic spectators on the hunt for a buzz will have no shortage of places to choose from.
Many of the smaller, established coffee houses have been satisfying caffeine addicts for years on Commercial Drive in the city’s east side, some run by several generations of Italian families.
Straw said that while the coffee culture is taking off in Toronto and Montreal and Calgary is emerging as the newest player with an active barista community and independent roasters, Vancouver is part of the Pacific Northwest coffee clan, along with Seattle and Portland, Ore.
“The three centres are pushing coffee forward in North America,” said Straw, who’ll soon be training for the World Barista Championship in London in June after winning the Canadian Barista Championship in Vancouver last fall.
Straw’s passion for coffee is evident as he talks about the complex florals and delicate balance that make a good cuppa joe. “Coffee, flavour-wise or aromatically, is more complex than wine,” he said.
Java drinkers are becoming more discerning about their daily dose, Straw said, especially as independent cafes keep popping up and baristas become known for their craft.
“It’s a fairly small community. It’s a tight community,” he said of the coffee crafters, adding he and other baristas make it a point to drop by and sample their competitors’ offerings.
Layla Osberg, director of training at the Blenz coffee shop, won two latte art championships in Seattle and Atlanta in 2007.
She now trains other baristas and said the traditional Italian designs that crown a drink — a tulip, rosetta or heart — go beyond making it look pretty.
“As an employee making minimum wage it’s a creative way to express yourself,” said Osberg, a former employee of Caffe Artigiano, where she points to a framed photo of her latte art — “the fourth from the left” — on a wall that features baristas’ handiwork.
“When a coffee shop springs up on every corner you have to stay on top of your game,” Osberg said. “So latte art is more a seal of quality. You have to put out a good product or else you’re going down.
“It’s about steaming the milk just right and sealing that layer of micro bubbles.”
Osberg said etching various animals such as bears and cats into the foam atop a latte is the newest creative edge at several Blenz coffee houses, though Olympic organizers prohibit any Games mascots to be featured in drinks.
Blenz also sponsors a latte art competition in Tokyo every year for baristas from various cafes around the city, where Osberg judges the competition.
The winning “barista celebrity” gets a trip to Vancouver, she said.
“It’s just starting to happen in the rest of Canada,” she said of the coffee craze that grips Vancouver.
At Olympic venues, only one brand of coffee, called Far Coast, will be available, brewed by sponsor Coca-Cola.