Tapa Coffee & Bakehouse
"The coffee at Tapa is amazing. To be able to have freshly roasted, freshly ground coffee with perfectly frothed milk is a fantastic experience and that’s before we even started on the freshly baked bread."
Nell Nelson 'The Woman Who Ate Scotland'
Tapa bakehouse & Tapa coffeehouse are Glasgow’s favourite organic neighbourhood cafes, bakery & coffee roasteries.
We bake our own organic bread at our bakery in Dennistoun, cook everything from scratch using fresh organic ingredients and even roast our own coffee in our wee roasterie.
We’re an open, friendly sort of place. You can see the bakers making bread and cakes in the bakery; check out the sacks of organic flours and seeds waiting to be turned into tasty loaves; and see the bags of juicy organic walnuts ready to be folded into our moist, cinnamony carrot cake. Watch our talented staff turn the boxes of fresh organic veges that are delivered regularly into chunky home-made soups, thick wedges of potato tortilla or rich vegetable flans. Marvel at how much better coffee tastes when it’s made from fairly traded beans that have been freshly roasted just two doors away.
Organics
There are lots of reasons why we use organic ingredients but the main reason is that they are just so good! The veges are full of flavour and colour, the eggs are creamy, the seeds are plump and fresh and the flours have a certain extra something (or rather, they don’t have that extra something – no additives, “improvers”, treatment agents or soy derivatives). We know that it takes great ingredients to make great food, so that’s all we use.
Bakery
In the bakery, we make our breads the old fashioned way, using basic ingredients and lots of time to release all the flavours and nutrients in the dough. We make a huge range of breads – check out our bread page . We also make scrummy cakes, some from old family recipes. All our cakes are made with love from quality organic ingredients that are familiar to home bakers. We don’t use anything you wouldn’t use at home – we’re a bit suspicious of ingredients that sound like they’ve come from a laboratory.
Cafe & Catering
Our cafes are open seven days and Tapa coffeehouse on Pollokshaws Rd is open a few evenings as well. Tapa bakehouse offers tasty sandwiches made on our own organic bread; homemade soups, quiches, vegetable tortilla and lots of other yummy things. Tapa coffeehouse has a full kitchen with an extensive menu featuring seasonal organic produce. And both cafes have plenty of delicious organic Tapa cakes!
Roasterie
We roast our own organic coffee beans. As you’d expect, we only buy really top notch beans from single estates or collectives. Please have a look at our list of coffees.
News
Tapa coffeehouse, 721 Pollokshaws Rd will be open:
9am - 8pm 27th December
9am - 5pm 28th - 31st December
Open from 8am as usual from 3rd January 2009
Tapa bakehouse, 21 Whitehill St will be open:
9am - 5pm 27th - 31st December
Open from 8am as usual from 3rd January 2009
Both shops will close at 4pm on Christmas Eve and will be closed 25th & 26th December and 1st & 2nd January.
Happy holidays everyone
The authors' views of our future food security and state of national health range from the apocalyptic to the merely alarming. Scary stuff, though the books all reinforce our belief that good, honest food produced on a human scale from fresh local ingredients is the only way to eat. We read a lot of books about chocolate, puddings, and whisky as well as the odd trashy thriller too - there is a little more to life than food after all.
Are you just after a good cup of coffee? Well, we now have enthusiastic & skilled baristas, freshly roasted 100% arabica coffee beans AND the most fabulous espresso machine. We make delicious creamy espresso, smooth lattes and light cappuccino. De-lish!
The first class on 10 September will cover Italian breads, making & using a biga and we'll make a foccacia during the class.
The second class on 17 September will look at working with sourdoughs, wrangling wild yeasts and we'll work through the various stages of making a sourdough loaf.
If you'd like to join the class, please send an email to info@tapabakehouse.com indicating which class you're interested in.
Sunday Herald 8 June 2008
It's also very remote, as one of our intrepid shareholders (my mum) discovered whilst attempting to visit. Up, up, up a winding dirt road she went, asking for directions along the way. When eventually she reached the gates, her way was barred by a gun-toting guard. After a quick phone call to the charming Senora Wintzer, who owns the Finca, the guard was all smiles and welcomed the weary visitors in with a big smile. The Finca staff were extremely hospitable and showed them the whole coffee production process from cherries on trees to beans in sacks.
Mum reports that coffee growing is hard yakka and very low-tech; and she reminded me to appreciate every cup of coffee I drink. There are lots more photos at http://www.flickr.com/photos/25669077@N02/
We adore this delicate, fragrant coffee with its hints of chocolate. It's lovely for breakfast with a fresh buttery brioche from the bakery. We roast frequently and stock freshly roasted Finca Entre Rios on the shelves in the cafe, and on our stall at the Glasgow Farmers markets .
Competition for grain from animal farmers is one of the many factors affecting the price and availability of some flours. The demand for grain-fed meat just keeps on rising and it's forcing other food prices up too. We've done out best to contain our costs but unfortunately have had to add 5p to the price of most of our loaves.
Want cheaper bread? Eat less meat! Or choose meat & cheese from grass-fed, rather than grain-fed animals, and try some of the delicious organic smoked tofu we stock in the shop.