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.

In celebration of our two-year anniversary at our café, we are having not one but two giveaways lasting all week long. Be sure to participate for epic prizes, good vibes, fun times and lots of air fives.

Our café birthday is next week, August 11th. Celebrations will look a little different this year, but we are going to celebrate nonetheless! Make sure to mark your calendars because we will have festivities all week long.

Tala Neighborly is like the milk man, but for coffee. Skip the shipping, skip the trip out of the house. Let us hand-deliver your orders so you get them fresh, fast and neighborly.

Today marks the three year anniversary of Tala. That day began a whole host of “firsts” for us. First time selling a bag of coffee, first time being featured in the press, first time hiring a Tala employee, first time opening a cafe. We had talked about each one before launching, looking forward to each as a benchmark of our progress. We’re still hitting firsts today, actually. Every one is exciting and reminds me how worthwhile our hard work has been.

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.

Many of you have been wondering what the recent ban of restaurants and bars in Illinois has meant for Tala. We are making changes to abide by this law, and continuing to be flexible and creative as we approach new ways to serve our customers through this health crisis.