Time travel via coffee

There’s this magical place in Baia Mare - the Tom & Jerry Garden. It’s an outdoor cafe/beer garden that opens sometime in the spring when the weather gets hot and closes sometime in the autumn when the weather gets cold. Their coffee - frappe (pictured), cafe helado, black & white, plus ice teas - simply take me back in time.

Back when I was in high school, we’d go there after classes. We’d go there during the summer break and we’d play cards. After I started volunteering with DEIS, we’d go there after events. Dates and meeting friends. When I turned 18, I had an obligatory celebratory beer there (it was one of the few places that really took the drinking age seriously in this town). Knowing each and every person there - not always by name, but definitely by sight. It was such an important part of my teenage years.

Every time I come home during the summer I need to be there. Now I barely know anyone there except the owners and the people I’m meeting up with. But every sip of coffee tastes like a memory. I love this place.