February 2008 — VOLUME 6 ISSUE 2
Atmosphere and variety at cafes
Cafés have been around for centuries, but what is it that
draws people through the doors of the more than 25 million coffeehouses around
the world?
Cafés, or coffeehouses, originated in the Middle East about
500 years ago, and later found popularity in Europe. In North America, coffeehouses
found favour with the Beat Generation in the 1950s and ’60s, and later became
popular settings for casual social meetings: think sitcom “Friends”
and their Central Perk café.
At Sun Peaks, according to Bobbe Willis,
food and beverage manager for Sun Peaks Resort Corporation, the cafés here
possess an independent spirit that separates them from big coffeehouse chains
like Starbucks. Many different brands provide a range of coffee tastes.
Whether
it’s Subculture’s Moreno dark roast, 5Forty Café and Deli’s
fair trade Kicking Horse coffee, Vertical Juice Café’s fair trade,
organically grown and locally roasted Cherry Hill, Café Soleil’s more
mainstream Mosaik, or the Italian Lavazza at Bagg’s Sweets or Bolacco Café,
there’s a bean for every palate.
International guests, familiar with
the café culture of Europe and some other locales, especially enjoy the
abundance of coffeehouses at Sun Peaks, but the highly energized atmosphere of
the resort is not like that of a typical Italian café, where conversations
over cups of espresso can take half a morning.
Here, according to Willis, café
patrons are often looking for a quick caffeine fix during a lunch break or before
hitting the slopes. Tony Bagg, owner of Bagg’s Sweets, backs that up: his
business is often very busy during the usual winter weekend chaos, he says. On
the other hand, Nikki Kirton, manager of Vertical Juice Café, says cafés
can be a great place for locals to catch up quickly with each other during a busy
working period.
Still, locals and visitors alike are often looking for something
more than a quick cup of java when they partake at a café. According to
Bodie Shandro, who owns Subculture Bistro and has travelled through Europe and
Central America, people everywhere want an experience with their coffee, not just
a hot drink. Scott Janzen, owner of 5Forty, says atmosphere is part of the attraction—and
that includes welcoming and friendly staff.
Coffee itself, which according
to some studies can help reduce the risk of Parkinson’s disease, liver and
breast cancer, gallstones, and type two diabetes, is second only to oil in world
trade. You wouldn’t guess it was second to anything at Café Soleil,
where some 500 cups of coffee are consumed on any given day, according to Willis.
Naturally,
the environmental movement has noticed coffee, and many of today’s café
patrons are especially aware of issues like fair trade, which assures that farmers
earn reasonable wages for growing coffee, and organic production methods that
ease the strain on the environment where coffee is grown—it’s not necessarily
the most environmentally-friendly type of farming. “The demand for the world’s
favourite drink is a potential threat to rain forests and wildlife as it consumes
so much land,” says Kirton. She adds that pesticides and sunscreens used
on coffee plants can eventually poison water sources.
As for a local favourite,
many people point toward European-influenced Bolacco Café. “If I were
to go anywhere for a coffee at Sun Peaks, it would be Bolacco,” says Raymond
Jones, a local resident.
Perhaps at Sun Peaks, where people from all over
the world come to work and play, it’s the comfortable small-town familiarity
that draws them to the local cafés as much as the aromas and tastes of
so many coffee varieties.
“My feeling is that people love familiarity and coffee houses provide a home away from home,” says Kirton. Even on a busy winter weekend.
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