Cafe Tiki

What first attracted me to Café Tiki was the sign & name — I remember seeing it not long after it first opened on April 2011. Anything with the word Tiki in it always conjures up images of kitsch, 60’s cool beach-​style places with funkily dressed staff & palm trees everywhere… well, Café Tiki isn’t quite like that… I’m not sure where the ‘Tiki’ comes from (other than their funky signage) but once inside this is a rather un-​Tiki café.
You might well miss Café Tiki also because of it’s location — situated on Anderson Street, behind bustling Dumbarton Road and just along from the rear entrance to Partick train station & Morrison’s. I knew that the RNIB had offices here but I didn’t quite realise that Café Tiki is owned by them and all the staff in CT are people with sight or hearing loss. Now, I have to say I did not know this until I read it on the website. (It’s not as though the lady serving couldn’t hear/​was shouting or had a golden retriever; that would be the ‘comedy’ image of that situation, so stop it you naughty person you!) The lady that served was very lovely indeed and didn’t bat an eyelid when I requested a regular Americano in a large cup (for travelling purposes).
The first thing that hit me when I entered the building (with it’s cool automatic doors, which still always make me feel as though I’m in Star Trek) was the airiness & coolness of the place. Having worked in a coffee shop of a slightly larger size I know that sometimes coffee shops can get pretty darn warm, so on this (warmer than usual) morning it was lovely to feel the freshness in the air & also the smell of potato & leek soup! It was one of their Soups of The Day, not some kinda funky new air freshener thankfully. Mmm. smelled lovely.
Price & taste wise I can only comment on my coffee ~ I think £1.50 for a Regular Americano is fine and I have to say it was a really good coffee. I later read that their coffee is blended & roasted by Matthew Algie and I’ve always a had a soft spot for MA coffee, especially after one of their guys wrote my then coffee shop manager a super sweet letter about how he had been served by me that day & was so impressed by the service & standard… awww! Made me blush & still does thinking about it :) So, aye, I do really like MA coffee. Also it’s Fairtrade, Organic & Rainforest Alliance Certified! Wow. That’s like drinking a liquid halo man! Coolness.
The Internet in here is totally free and I can’t comment on anything about this as I only popped in for a take-​away coffee but I think the computers are to the right as you walk in and the café to the left. It is handy to know that there’s an Internet café here as people occasionally ask if I know of any and now I can add Café Tiki to the list.