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NINE BARS Victoria: Coffee competition homeland BY CHRIS RYAN REG BARBER (left) helped organize August's For the Love of Coffee in part to draw attention to Victoria's growing coffee culture. V 50 ICTORIA, BRITISH COLUMBIA—If the City of Victoria's tourism department ever needs a spokesper- son, it could do worse than Reg Barber. The craftsman, who makes espresso tampers for the specialty coffee industry under the company name Reg Barber Enterprises, has his headquarters in nearby Saanichton. But he spends much of his time reveling in the café scene of his adored Victoria, British Columbia's capital and home to about 78,000 Canucks. A coastal city adorned with Arts and Crafts architecture, Victoria doesn't have much of a "big city" feel, but its coffee scene might indicate otherwise: myriad independent roasters are based here, specialty coffeehouses reside on nearly every downtown block, and Canada's reigning Western regional barista champion calls Victoria home. That barista, Morgan Allen, works for Victoria's Fernwood Coffee Company, which also produced 2010 regional (and national) winner Rob Kettner. Another leading retail-roaster in the city is Discovery Coffee, which launched in 2005 and recently opened Fresh Cup Magazine freshcup.com its third location. One of the veterans of the scene is Caffe Fantastico, launched by Ryan Taylor as a coffee cart in 1993 and now a four-location Victoria mainstay. Taylor says specialty cof- fee has succeeded in Victoria in part because of the city's relaxed atmosphere. "Even though we're a capital, people are a little bit more laid-back here, and definitely more inclined to be into some of the simple, finer pleasures," he says. "Victoria's a decent-size small city, but it still has a small-town feel to it. Word-of-mouth is a very successful way to operate here." B arber wanted to draw attention to the city's unique, vibrant coffee community with For the Love of Coffee, a two-day coffee festival he co-organized that took place in August. Geared toward both industry professionals and cof- fee enthusiasts, the event featured an exhibition show floor and coffee contests including the Western Regional Barista Competition and Canada's first-ever Brewers Cup. But for Barber, COURTESY OF REG BARBER