There is “something in the water” taking effect on Alberta’s specialty coffee community, at least according to 2024 SCA Canadian National Barista Championship winner Nelson Phu.

This came in response to the question of why, out of any other Canadian province, Alberta is most often credited with having the strongest community of coffee professionals. Many of which go on to represent the Wild Rose Country in barista competitions across the world.

The evidence seems to be on Nelson’s side; Ben Put, founder of the Calgary-based coffee roasting company Monogram, recently took home third place in the 2025 World Barista Championships (WBC) hosted in Milan, Italy.

And he does not stand alone in the competition circuit; Jill Hoff, Ben’s longtime coach, is herself a 2021 WBC semi-finalist and 2020 SCA Canadian National Barista Champion.

Alongside his 2024 victory, Nelson Phu has secured first place in the 2020 Canadian Latte Art Championships and 2020 Coffee in Good Spirits Championship, plus more accolades in national coffee competitions since 2017.

Meanwhile, the list of barista competitors hailing from Alberta goes on – Cole Torode (Rosso), Jeremy Ho (Phil & Sebastian), Ply Pasarj (Rogue Wave), and many more.

With so much collective success in coffee competitions, the world’s eyes are starting to turn to this quiet, unassuming province in western Canada – famous for prairies, rodeos, and now one of the largest networks of coffee professionals, coaches, and competitors in the world.

How did we get here, and how do we keep growing?

I held two discussions with Nelson Phu and Trent Rollings – a certified Specialty Coffee Association (SCA) trainer, coffee educator, and founder of Simpler Coffee – to get closer to the answers.

Learning From the Competition

“It’s not about beating each other.”

Competing in the Barista Championships is no small task. For many, it takes a lot of real-world practice and burning of the midnight oil (or coffee) before deciding to make the plunge.

For Nelson, it was watching Ben Put compete in the 2017 World Barista Championships in Seoul that inspired him to try his hand at Nationals – that was around a year after he joined Calgary-based coffee roaster, Rosso.

Nelson admits that, in the beginning, he wasn’t totally sure what exactly he was getting into.

“...I was like hey, let’s do this. I got there thinking ‘I know everything’. This is going to be so easy…and I got disqualified for going over time. And that’s when I knew this is a lot harder than it seems and it’s worth putting some effort behind it.”

Despite a humbling first experience, there was a slight amendment in the way Nelson approached future coffee competitions and the baristas he was competing against.

“It was not really about winning because anyone could have easily won that same year. It was more about ‘is my message important enough?' It’s not about beating each other; it’s kind of about beating your own score.”

In 2024, topping up his personal score paid off when Nelson claimed the NBC first place title among the nation’s finest baristas.

In my conversation with Trent Rollings, a familiar theme came up.

“There is that healthy level of competition in the industry that drives innovation.” Trent said. “When talking to Ben Put early on, he said ‘what makes it so great is I can never rest, because if I rest someone is gonna come along and do something better.’ I think that’s great – we have so many champions coming from one city.”

Strength Through Collaboration

“We’re technically competitors, but we’re not butting heads.”

Not only are Alberta’s NBC and WBC contestants motivated by the success of their peers to improve their own barista skills, they’re offered support in every step of the process.

“Before competitions, people are willing to come watch our practice sets.” Said Nelson. We’re technically competitors, but we’re not butting heads. We’re willing to help each other and it’s very cool to see.”

Trent Rollings says that the collaborative spirit of Alberta’s coffee community reminds him of his experience as a business owner in the Philippines. When opening his own coffee shop and paying a visit to his competition, he was surprised at their lack of resistance.

“..When I was opening my own coffee shop, we’d go into others – and I’m essentially becoming competition to them – and the owner is like ‘oh my gosh! It’s so great that you’re willing to open’ I walked out confused, why would you want to help me?”

The answer gave him a different perspective:

“He explained that you and I can compete for market share away from these bigger coffee companies…or we can collaborate and work to build the market share of specialty coffee together."

From what I gathered in my discussions with Nelson and Trent, Alberta’s coffee culture is poised to grow stronger and larger with every passing year. With everything that has led up to the creation of our prolific community of coffee professionals, is there anything more we can do to keep up this momentum?

Keeping Coffee Accessible

“One of the things I’ve realized is that in Calgary, people are often not looking for that [intensive] caliber of course."

Let’s for a moment shift the discussion away from coffee competitions, and instead take a look at the incontrovertibly largest chunk of Alberta's coffee-loving demographic: the home brewer.

A home brewer describes anyone, regardless of experience, who is caught in the alluring riptide of specialty coffee.

With so many independent cafés in cities like Calgary and Edmonton, arguably more than any other province in Canada, it’s no surprise that the “coffee bug” is running rampant in Alberta.

It’s also worth noting that for most casual brewers, the prospect of competing in the SCA Canadian or World Barista Championships is not in the playbook.

The specialty coffee industry is kind of a paradox; it’s just as easy to get hooked as it is to get intimidated by coffee’s unending complexities. Going deeper only reveals new processing methods, roasting styles, brewing techniques, terminology... and the list goes on.

Though his courses at Simpler Coffee, Trent would like to give emerging coffee enthusiasts the confidence to move past this paradox, inspiring those on the sidelines to be more active in community-focused events.

“One of the things I’ve realized is that in Calgary, people are often not looking for that [intensive] caliber of course; they’re looking for more of something that’s a little bit more approachable and entry-level.” He said. “...it doesn’t have to be something so formalized as the competitions."

Trent explained how Simpler Coffee has been meeting the demand for more casual and less time-consuming courses.

“So recently, I’ve launched a series of shorter workshops – just two hours – that are fun and more approachable to someone who's maybe never made latte art for the first time. I think those more approachable events are something that we're doing to drive forward.”

From Here, Forward

Much like Nelson after his first competition set, we might benefit from taking an introspective beat. What makes our community one of the best in the world? And what can we do to keep our future looking just as optimistic?

There is something special about Alberta’s specialty coffee industry: it’s made up of people who genuinely want to see each other succeed.

Here, baristas in coffee competitions treat one another as collaborators and partners, while cafés and roasting companies celebrate the success of one establishment as a collective step forward for all.

How do we pay homage to the advancements already made? The answer seems to be in approachable education, more community events which are free to attend, and having Alberta’s cafés remain open for conversation, experimentation, and mentorship.

Maybe this is how we can inspire the next generation of World Barista Champions.

Are you looking for the next opportunity to engage with the coffee community? Eight Ounce Coffee is a passionate supporter and host of coffee-focused events including the HARIO V60 and AeroPress Championships.

Throughout the year, we also host friendly competitions, throwdowns, and coffee brewing workshops out of our Calgary Headquarters. Head to our Events & Sponsorships Page to see what we have scheduled.