Barista's mediums: coffee and chalk

"V-e-r-. . ."

"Wait, am I spelling that right? OK, good," she says, glancing at the Starbucks Coffee Co. memo suggesting alliterative words and lines touting the coffee of the week, Caffe Verona.

V-e-r-s-a-t-i-l-e, Cassady finishes, in perfect sans serif font (she adds the serifs later).

"Nope," she mumbles to herself as she erases the word, "I like the next line a lot better."

Cassady, 21, is a part-time barista and chalkboard artist at the Oak Grove Starbucks near her home in Gladstone. A three-year Starbucks veteran, Cassady starts swilling coffee about 4:15 a.m., fitting in her design work between orders of venti house coffees and iced skinny almond lattes.

When she's not behind the counter, Cassady's a full-time graphics design student at Portland State University. Each store has at least one person assigned to decorate the boards, and though the company doesn't require experience, Cassady said managers usually look for someone with an interest.

Cassady got her creative break after entering an annual companywide art show that displays employees' work -- both inside and outside the store. Her chalkboard take on Van Gogh's "Vase With Five Sunflowers" earned her a center easel at the show and acclaim that led to her selection as the main artist on the massive chalkboard menu for the busy Waterfront Blues Festival stand during the Fourth of July weekend event in Portland.

Starbucks provides the chalk pens, but Cassady often augments the supply with some of her own. Taking anywhere from 15 minutes to five hours -- that was for the 4-foot Blues Festival board -- she uses her own ideas and color blends to craft the signs, which must feature certain drinks.

This week, Cassady drew a red pomegranate shaded by green palm fronds to feature a new icy drink that seemed to drip from the board. Cassady likes food and usually adds something edible to her work (unlike the artist at Portland's Southwest Sixth Avenue store who opted for a blue parrot jamming to an iPod).

For the week's featured coffee, a brew the company's memo said was perfect with a chocolate cupcake, Cassady free-handed a fudgy square of espresso brownie on a sleek white plate.