CoffeeBeer >> Double Shot Buzz >> Ta
In the past couple of years, several new cafes have appeared in and near Barber Road, so I decided I really need to stop travelling for just a bit and start exploring my neighhbourhood. And first on my list was the intriguingly named Ta, which looks like a proper coffee house; and if I’d known that it’s also called The One With The Pigeon, I definitely would have visited sooner.
Anyway, I finally stopped in on a Thursday before work. Besides one other woman I was the only customer in the place, and the barista greeted me with a warm smile. I ordered a cortado, which was served properly in a glass, although it was more of a small drinking glass than a proper shot glass. But that was my fault; I should have ordered a macchiato instead. (I also ordered a croissant to take away, and I have to say it was excellent.)
As I sat in the window sipping my coffee, I slowly took in my surroundings. There appeared to be wine bottles everywhere, but they all seemed to have somewhat surreal labels. Were they wine, or were they something else? Perhaps wine from the vineyards of a far distant place: Surrealesia, perhaps? Browsing Ta’s most minimal website, I realised my barista was the owner. The coffee beans are roasted in-house using a unique lever-system coffee machine.
And although I saw no evidence of any menus while I was there, the cafe does have a food menu which features breakfasts, sandwiches like toasted cheese and fried egg sandwiches, and cheese boards. I mean, I suppose I should have asked for a menu--but as I wasn’t going to order anything to eat, I didn’t. I did buy one of their croissants to take away, and I have to say it was excellent.
Besides being a proper coffee roaster, Ta is also fully licensed, so they can serve wine and beer in the evenings, or a full-on wine and cheese board, available on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday evenings. While I was ordering my coffee and croissant I did notice their cheese counter, which I’ll seriously have to investigate on a less hurried visit. Along with the cheeses and croissants they also offer banana bread and cinnamon rolls. (I do recall that my mom baked the best cinnamon rolls ever, both the quick rolls and then the more labour-intensive yeast-bread rolls. She also baked other breads, and she made the best pie crust in the world. Trust me on this one.)
Ta is dog-friendly as well, which I always like to see. “The one with the pigeon” seems to be their coffee brand name, and I saw somewhere that they feed their spare seeds to the local birds. Now, I like the sound of that, because I happen to like pigeons, and I think they are a highly unappreciated avian species. But then I always get angry and upset whenever I see a human being showing complete disregard and a lack of respect for a member of another species.
As they haven’t yet developed a large web presence, I don’t really know where the name “Ta” came from. The most popular meaning of the world in England is “thank you”, and although I rarely use it myself, it’s a really good way to make a text shorter. TA is also the symbol for the element tantalum, and it’s an abbreviation for both Teaching Assistant and Tranactional Analysis. And of course, if you separate the T from the A with an ampersand, you get T&A, which is short for Tits and Asses/Arses. Anyway, it’s sort of an interesting question to ponder while slowly and quietly enjoying your coffee: Truncus Arteriosus? Temporal Arteritis? Tricuspid Atresia? Transabdominal? Theatre Assistant? Tendon Achiles? Total Alkalinity? Technology Assessment? Territorial Army? Temperature Alarm? Tree Algorithm? Travelling Allowance? Therapeutic Abortion? Total Area? Tahiti? Tristan da Cunha? Tori Amos?
Speaking of possible definitions of TA reminds me of a recent extremely short WhatsApp conversation with a Chicago friend whom I shall be visiting soon:
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