While his art only lasts a few seconds before it is sipped away, one Calgary barista masterfully combines espresso and milk foam with the flick of his wrist to make an exquisite drink.
Southern Alberta’s number one barista, Brendon Toyne, got his start at a coffee shop his dad’s friend owned in Cochrane.
Now he works at Kava, a high-class coffee bar on Eighth Street and 14th Avenue.
“At the start it was really just a high school job,” he said.
“I slowly worked my way up from the little private coffee shops to Starbucks and now to the big guns here.”
He took third in the 2008 Prairie Regional Barista Competition, producing for each judge a shot of espresso, a cappuccino, and a drink of his own concoction — a Madagascar vanilla bean drink with egg.
“I think every barista has their own style,” said Toyne. “Everybody makes their espresso different.”
