David Kim has a long history in Calgary’s coffee scene — he’s an award-winning barista that has placed in multiple Canadian National Barista Championships over his career and owns a local specialty coffee roasting company.
Along his coffee journey, Kim received support from fellow baristas, coffee roasters and cafés who gave him training, space for his business and a place for his pop-ups. With the opening of his new café, Paradigm Spark, he’s returning the favour with his own space that will continue to support the coffee community.
Kim started his professional coffee career as a roaster at Phil & Sebastian, and after seven years, decided to start his own specialty roasting company, David Kim Coffee.
“They were very supportive, and they gave me a chance to experience the business and allowed me to do small projects from inside Phil & Sebastian,” says Kim.
Eventually, Kim started a small coffee pop-up inside coffee gear supplier Eight Ounce Coffee’s space. After doing that pop-up and expanding David Kim Coffee, he decided it was time to open his own physical location: Paradigm Spark.
Inside Paradigm Spark, there’s classic café fare like coffee and espresso drinks made with coffee roasted on-site, sandwiches and house-made baked goods. But the café also offers a number of unique experiences and opportunities.
First is the Experience Bar, where people can try high-quality specialty coffees brewed right in front of them by competition-trained baristas. “The specialty coffee service is not just serving good coffee — it’s a more interactive experience between the barista and the customers,” says Kim. And since coffee competitions are as much about storytelling as the coffee, it’s also a great way for baristas to practice their competition skills, even when they aren’t training.
The Experience Bar is open during the café’s regular hours, but Kim has also opened it up to other baristas around the city for small pop-ups in the evenings.
“In my experience, making a pop-up as a coffee professional is really hard,” says Kim. “And for those who are competing, the only time they can serve is once a year at competitions, and then there is no stage for them [to practice].” The Experience Bar is a chance for them to gain that stage experience.
Another notable part of Paradigm Spark is the presence of Timberline Coffee School, founded by Trent Rollings, a World Coffee Championships representative and certified judge. Kim collaborated with Rollings to create a space inside Paradigm Spark that offers coffee education workshops for professionals and enthusiasts and Specialty Coffee Association (SCA) certified courses.
Previously, baristas looking for SCA certification would have to travel to places like Vancouver or Toronto in order to do their training, but now, they can do it in Calgary.
Finally, Kim is also bringing in food pop-ups, with previous ones featuring cream puffs by Saïd M’Dahoma (a popular baking instructor and content creator known as The Pastry Nerd) and macarons by Colibri Cake Boutique.
Overall, Paradigm Spark is not only a great café with amazing coffee, but a space to help push Calgary’s coffee community forward.
“I was lucky that I know industry people who were willing to share their spaces, so I know the value of that to young professionals,” says Kim. “We’re trying to share that idea in the same way so it spreads out to the next generation.”
422 11 Ave. S.E., paradigmspark.com
