Grace joined the Tala crew in the summer of 2023 and, as of this month, is now the new manager of the Highwood location. All the way from Hartford, Wisconsin, Grace made the big move to Illinois to study international relations and environmental studies. You’ve probably seen her in the cafe with a big warm smile on her face. You can come see her at Tala most days of the week!

first Forum event, we started with a time of general connection and mingling with complimentary donuts and raffle prize entries before launching into a group cupping. We had all of our single-origin coffees on the cupping table, and each coffee had one side ground by one grinder, and one by the other.

I’ve spent the last eight-ish months about 3,000 miles away from Highwood due to the COVID situation. If the whole virus thing hadn’t happened, I’d probably be in the café right now—either on shift or doing some academic work or playing a card game...

When I think back at the second year of our cafe, so many memories come to mind. From throwing parties to meeting new people to sharing conversations. The thing that stands out immediately for me above the rest is actually day one. We kicked off year two with an amazing birthday bash.

Lockdown obviously has changed all of our lives in a lot of ways, but the good news is that outside is still open! It isn’t exaclty atypical for me to spend lots of time outside but in this season the time feels even more important. There’s something about the fresh air and the open spaces that feels so safe and comforting. In the midst of the lockdown the outdoors is the gift we didn’t know we needed.

Coffee—and in particular a coffee shop—brings together people quite unlike most other things. We see people meet in the cafe and later become friends. They bond over their dogs or their cars or their drinks. Our cafe is a place of connection and reconnection; old friends get together to catch up, spouses sip their lattes on a nice morning away from the house.