SPECIAL EPISODE: At Put_it_on_Lisbon Cafe with Tereza
30:50 Share

Kia ora, ni hao and hello. Welcome to the Chewy Journal Podcast. I'm your host, Camille Liang. My guest today is Theresa. She is the owner of a trendy cafe called Put It On Lisbon in my neighborhood. That's where I first met her and became a regular customer at her cool little shop. Theresa is originally from the Czech Republic and has lived in the Netherlands, Australia and Portugal for many years.

In today's episode, we talk about everything about her cafe and I highly encourage you to come and visit if you are in Lisbon. I'll see you there.

welcome Teresa thank you thank you for invitation it's so nice to find a cafe like I feel so welcomed it's funny I walked past many times but I didn't go inside then one day I just thought I should try this cafe looks very trendy then I went there met you and I know a lot of my gym buddies also go there oh yeah

yeah so what inspired you to open this cafe well at first thank you so much thank you that you uh came because of uh actually a lot of people told me that they were like a little bit like scared to go maybe inside it's maybe too much or as well that's maybe like it's too cool you know or whatever but uh no the idea of the coffee shop is basically to just like

create like family, create community here, you know, because of I feel like after like all the travels what I done on the end of the day, it's just like all of us like kind of like traveling and being alone at some point and like a lot of people travel by themselves, right? Like doesn't matter like if it's the Erasmus as well, you know, or whatever. Mm-hmm.

And that was basically for me the idea to kind of like to just like connect all of us like this and create it like not as a cafe but more like this like hanging living room you know like where basically all of us we will put something as you did your beautiful books and a bunch of people just bringing their stuff from like art to like books to like everything, everything, everything.

And, um, just really appreciate of that because of like, it's, uh, well, it's like me because of, I am there 27, right? 24 seven. Yeah. But, uh,

It's like as well like big part of the people like of you, you know, who's coming there, you know, because of like this basically what creates the vibe as well, you know. It's basically like how the place as well looks like, how the people feels there, you know. I feel like it's like a community hub.

gather all the people from this neighborhood from the random places around all the world you know but that's that's actually like what I'm enjoying the most you know like actually sometimes she knows that you know that you know you are there kind of often now lately but I'm super happy to see you always but like the people like are literally like from everywhere

you know and then like everyone just like wants to actually connect with the places like nature you know that you would talk over like three tables like on the another side of the place right with like people that you react on something yeah I really enjoy to meeting like the people from like everywhere it's basically my like life uh

every single day you know i like literally like i met so many people you know so so many interesting people you know everyone like really everyone just like have own story and it's like really fun to like yeah share all this you know because of like i always kind of or not always that's that's um that's true like maybe like five years i was thinking to open my own coffee shop at some point

The idea was always that I want to have it like not coffee shop with like regular tables and chairs and like a service, you know, in paper. I wanted to have like something open, you know, because of I feel like especially sometimes if you go like somewhere by yourself, sometimes you just like want to chat with strangers, you know. Sometimes it works as well like a walk in Tinder, right? Yeah.

a lot of like people just like yeah like I can't wait for the first love story when someone will come to me and say you know what I met my wife you know that's a bit weird yeah right yeah I think it's gonna happen yeah maybe at some point I need to organize the speed they need oh yeah

because you organize so many events there yeah as far as i know it's a quiz night dj and tattoo event yeah i got mine yeah yeah i got mine as well yeah um so how do you come up with idea and how do you find people who organize it host it well to be very very honest with you um

The ideas are mainly from the stuff that I like personally, you know. And I like parties with DJs. I love dress-up parties, you know. Yeah, I love it. Like tattoo, piercing. I don't have many piercings. I have one piercing, but I...

I think that's also cool, you know, and like a lot of these things, you know, it's just like what I like, yeah. And then as well with Paddy, hello Paddy, I hope that you will listen that, listen mama. Master listen. So with Paddy, which is my angel and cheesecake man, the famous cheesecake man, he as well organized like the cocktail cheesecake night, right? When we, when he basically, he did like five

cheesecakes all of them with alcohol and like kind of the cocktail style so yeah so just like doing something which is not usual you know because of normal things are boring or for me you know I need something extra and those some of the some of the events obviously it's like pretty common thing but

I just like really feel like to do something different you know like starting from the design continue through like the behavior of like us who works there right and the events the food the drinks because that's one other thing what I'm trying to do like very unique I always when I bring something new something what's not here something what

not usual, you know, like obviously it's still coffee shop. So the main part is the coffee. But now like I do have their banana ciders from Azores Island. Hello, Leon. And it's amazing. It's super unique and super like as well, like good taste, everything. I'm super happy that I can have it there.

or the date coffee that's guys from Amsterdam just always like whatever I like find interesting I wanna experiment on you guys

Yeah, we give you feedback. I'm like, couple of days if I will put it on menu, I'm not gonna die. No, but as well, I want to do it like everything unique, everything like obviously needs to taste great. Everything fresh, everything or most of them homemade or made like with some story. And it's like from Portugal.

and from North Portugal. I'm trying to obviously support locals as well because we're still in Portugal, right? And I think that a lot of the artists actually are from Portugal, what are there and or what they present their art there and coffee beans, you know,

now beers as well so oh it's all local yeah yeah yeah exactly but still something like a little bit like exotic right like the cheesecake the homemade cheesecake yeah homemade cheesecake when I found out oh

my god patty made it he's amazing yeah oh my god he actually came like uh like angel like i was like literally hey i would bake every single morning you know every single morning and i had this like apple pie yeah and banana pudding but i promise it will come back because of it's like asking so many people for it so many people even the leon the banana guy he just like asked me as well that i should like

do maybe business with that yeah and then what else i was doing chia pudding and um anyways i was experimenting um and then it was just like so exhausting to wake up i know it was just like more like that like it was like literally one of the first things in the morning you know just start baking you know okay

it was really tough and then like bring everything to the shop open shop be there all day clean after clothes and then do groceries imagine and then like literally like work work work but you know what I was focused and I was motivated and I saw the feedback what was basically like my like big engine as well you know and as well you know like I whatever I put in my head I just like

needs to be my way and I need to do it you know and then Paddy came and he just like I do cheesecake and I was like can you make vegan and gluten free and he was like I hate you but I will oh ok he's like customized for you yeah yeah yeah and now also we are playing around with the flavors so everyday different flavors I know yeah I tried so many yeah we like literally tried so many of them and all of them all of them are amazing yeah

So it's like but it is now like cheesecake man But yeah, it's a lot of people since beginning involved into that one like basically a lot of like customers they They did some part of the like there, you know, it's like co-owned the coffee Yeah, I am like I am like they're the coffee shop You know

I am there just like, yeah, I am there just like, yeah, Mother Teresa because I am like barista, I am dinner, I am like, organizer of like, events, I am like, a poster maker or not all of them but like, most of them. I am like, doing groceries, delivery, you know, social media, social media, yeah,

organizing the people as well where's your energy from i'm so worried yeah i don't even know i don't even know i like sometimes like now like especially when it's like already has a like everything system and it's a bit more like calm and chilled i like thinking now like fuck now i feel actually tired when i don't do things you know but when you are like

In one round. And it's like working a lot plus like to having a lot of ambitious, you know. It's like just like really like pushing you and you don't even think about it, you know. But sometimes I would like finish like even preparing for next day at 1 a.m., you know. Wow.

and then still wake up and open the shop but yeah like it's I'm like I don't want to like sense that I'm complaining you know I'm like extremely grateful for that and I am happy that it went the hard way that it wasn't easy because of at this case I had as well time and enough like

reasons to like as well do all the changes you know because I saw okay this one works this one doesn't I changed the menu like million times you know I experimented everything there you know I basically when I like as well from beginning there wasn't even coffee machine I would like pressing

like the date seat coffee out of Thermobotos you know like unbelievable you have no idea yeah how did you survive it's like everyone always coming there it's like oh it looks like you're living a dream yeah it looks like that you just like did what you always wanted to do and I was like well

just now and it actually just looks like behind that is like heaps of work you know but good you know like again like I love the shop I love all of you there because of the shop I like made so many good friends so many interesting people you know and yeah I just like really enjoy enjoying that a lot and hope that

you guys as well for sure yeah i wonder what's the name come from put it on so basically um at first it was as well made idea to have clothing there what was basically what i started when i was living in australia made a line brand and i was drawing so i was printing um on the t-shirts like the

And then I was in Amsterdam as well after doing new brand, new collection, the same brand, but also reselling clothes. And then I just really enjoy it, was enjoying the clothing. It went well, you know, and it was nice, like extra income, you know, and I love fashion. I love clothing. I love mixing and driving crazy with colors, you know. Sometimes I'm just like, really? Yeah.

Maybe dressing like too much, but I just really love that. And so that's why I was thinking to put it on as well. Like it was good, but obviously like the main idea is the song. Put it on Big L, like Lisbon. Yeah. And yeah, but now it's like on the end, I just will keep it because it's well-perceivable. I'm really proud of the logo because I made it by myself.

And then it is like put it on the clothes, put it on the tattoo, put it on the art on the wall, put it like literally everything, the music, you know, like everything. When I first entered your show, I saw the wall and then I was like, wow, it's amazing, so many arts. Yeah. So are they all from like different parts of the world? People contribute? Yeah.

Yeah, kind of. It's like from like mainly as you know like I have a lot of Americans guests and so most of the artists may be from America but as well from Lisbon and

yeah everywhere some of them i'm carrying with me for a couple of years you know because of like especially with the art you know i really love art as you probably can see at the show because the main idea is as well like support the young artists because of i know how it is like to doing art but be one of millions

on like meter square and trying to like without any contacts without any like whatever you know to just put it somewhere you know so like when i have good connection with the people when i feel the vibe and i have good impression about that i uh i'm always happy to put it there you know and support you know and then you got also other stuff like the skateboard from

Skating board from Ukraine. Yeah, from Vaks. It's very interesting decoration. I love it. That's just what I really really love. People just going there, you know. I will bring something around and put it there. No, yeah, amazing, amazing, amazing. It's from everywhere. People from everywhere. Yeah, from Australia, from like everywhere. Yeah, I even met New Zealand. Yeah, from Europe.

never met any New Zealanders in Lisbon after like living here almost two years but then I met two from your show yeah yeah and one of them is actually singer you know so like it's also cool also might see people do something together as well yeah but yeah yeah it's like it's mix of

mix of everything that's so cool so how do you design the menu like how do you pick up it how do you be special well I'm trying to do seasonal things so with upcoming autumn I want to do homemade pumpkin pie we actually want to do with buddy TikTok about that so soon we will have channel yeah

let's do it and we wanna do some pumpkin pies or cheesecakes and so yeah the menu is basically like

created by season by stuff what I just saw somewhere and I thought interesting and I like the taste like the banana cider because I'm not a big fan of cider but I tried that one I thought hmm that's interesting yeah actually you know what I was thinking about it and even Leon said that it tastes actually more like wine than cider right exactly they did great job

Yeah, and it's as well, you know, just beginning business with, I just, like, want to first a bit with support, but as well, I want to be there, you know? So you're the only shop selling their stuff? Well, with the first pouch, yes. Ah, okay. But now, Leon just, like, launched his stock in the Kashkash. Oh, cool, okay.

so now it will definitely extend and I'm happy for them because of I'm trying to as well I'm like you know I'm talking about it everywhere I know yeah I read that I'm better than like local newspapers laughing

And I really hope that the cider will be everywhere because it tastes amazing. It's behind that as well, a lot of hard work, you know. And it's such a unique thing, you know. And as well, sustainable brand, which is coming basically from like raised bananas, you know. So just positives. That's cool. Can you share some interesting stories happened in your cafe? Like any memorable...

Oh my God, a lot of them. A lot of them. Like, you know, like, hey, I meet every day, like, oh my God. Plus the ones with you guys already coming, and I know, I would say, like, roughly, like, even, like, 40 plus people, you know, from 9 till 4 p.m., you know. And...

it's so hard for me like to like keep everything you know but uh I have a lot of them a lot you know like really a lot and sometimes I'm just randomly like remind the people you know I don't want to name anything yeah yeah but yeah it's so many so many of like

crazy stories, you know, that's what I was telling, like, I, like, literally, at some point, I will write, like, book about all of you guys, you should write a book, like, literally, that will be, that will be, like, oh my god, the neighborhood, I know some people, yeah, yeah, you should read, and I literally just, like, so many, like, so many interesting stories, and, like, people, and, like,

Yeah, I love it. I love it. I feel like we should record them for sure. Since I'm a writer, I always like, oh, there's so many interesting stories. Because every time I go to your shop, I met people from different backgrounds. I remember last time when I was there, I talked with two German girls, and they're from Leipzig, which is my favorite German city there. So we talk a lot. Yes, it's just...

this random encounter yeah i think it's i more enjoy the in real life meetup not just checking online or yeah yeah that was the idea yeah yeah they they were making uh jokes uh from beginning because of basically i did that like since the opening you know because of i really love people yeah it gives me energy i love to be around people well depends like right

But yeah, I just really love to be around people. I am very social, I believe. And then I just like wanna connect like everyone, right? Like Leslie. Yeah. And yeah, so from beginning they were making jokes that I'm like the local connector and pusher. And what's the upcoming events you are doing? So now we have on Friday, Niko, he's DJ, he will play 6 till 11.

He will play house music. We'll be there first night. Pavel, which is this new French guy. Welcome in family, Pavel! Probably pronouncing his name really wrong way. So we will have small party there with DJ music. I ordered some special beers from Colina 8, which is this local Portuguese brewery. So I'm really excited for their ginger beer.

oh my god I miss ginger beer a lot it will be here it will be tomorrow already at the show by Friday it's cold ice cold in New Zealand it's very cold in ginger beer but here I didn't find any no but this is alcoholic I think they have alcohol yeah yeah because of the big brand the Australian like they don't have alcohol oh yeah no alcohol no

So that's we have this the next Thursday we are organizing with Lina which is this beautiful girl from LA she just arrived. Welcome Lina in Lisbon sister.

She's an artist, she does a really beautiful art and then Paolo made up this plan that he will organize a wine and draw event on Thursday. You need to come. We didn't set up time yet. We will promote everything soon. Everything is on social media, put it on Lisbon, always on Instagram. And...

So that will be drop, then we will have 30th of September tattoo event with piercings. Then 19th of October we'll play there Gomojo, which is this like music indie band. They are English. I think there is some German as well. I'm sorry guys.

But I'm excited! Yeah. And so they will play there. It will be live concert, so I'm really excited. Really excited because of... I heard couple of their songs and it's definitely my style, you know, of this like mellow indie like vibes, you know. I need to follow them, have a listen. Yeah.

And then we will do another event. We've spoken of this Dutch guy who was here for holiday. Remy. I probably as well fucked up the name. Remy. I don't know.

wishes to uh telborg um so we want to do a sneakers event cleaning and whatever sneakers like even there then with boemi which is this graffiti artist who has the beautiful graffiti in the shop so we spoke about new graffiti at the shop so we want to organize in november some

You know? - All the new decorations. - New decorations that I will stay open just for Takeaway's coffee and Moemi with her graffiti friends will do some magics there. - You should do the time lapse to record everything. - Yeah, it will be as well online. - Live? - Yeah, it will be open, you know. Just with Takeaway because otherwise we will die inside.

That will be, we will get high all of us. And then many, many, many, many, many. I know, yeah, just follow your Instagram. Now we have Paul in the game, so he will definitely come up with some cool, exciting events. And Gweese Night as well, we're planning to, it's coming Halloween, so we will have dressed up Halloween party. I love dressed up, yeah. We also want to do something with pumpkins, like,

craving biking pumpkins and like stuff so yeah it's gonna be so fun it's like literally happening a lot so i'm really excited yeah oh i'm super excited i just feel like it's always so much fun yeah the the time when i step into your shop it's like yes i find where i can hang out with like-minded people

so now i'm curious so why you said you already passed couple of times yeah and then you came up like after how many times did you pass i think because i live in that neighborhood so i probably three or four times okay yeah just like the reason why i didn't go into because it's crowded already like a pack with people yes okay next time because i'm so curious when i walk past

already people sit outside and people queueing in front because I'm very impatient at the moment I'm doing all my best to be the center of it then one day after I finished my workout I said oh okay now it's kind of quiet my turn and a lot of the people from my gym they go there yeah I'm loving that like I remember

And it just makes me happy how you guys just coming there and just meeting new people. And then after just becoming new friends, you know. And then everyone who's coming there regularly, everyone already knows each other, right? Yeah, true. That we have just like morning coffee in the living room. Yeah, exactly. Because you go so many other shop owners always come to your place. Yeah. So what's your future plan for this place? Apart from all these events. Well, the future plan is to make...

the smallest big place in lisbon i really would like to build it up i really would like to make it a really exciting place you know i really want to provide always like just the best from food from drinks you know and um i really just would like to make it like

really growing you know and get more people involved into that you know and uh yeah that's good that's the plan yeah are there any challenges or because i feel like your personality would be challenged you're always smiling and yeah i never see you complaining or something like that

Oh, I know. Sometimes I'm complaining and I'm being mad about that. I shouldn't complain. I hate complaining, you know. Because we complain and we just complain because we are lazy to do something with the things, you know, on the end of the day, you know. The complaint is just because we need to do something. And when things happen, you know, yeah, of course things happen, you know. But things happening to all of us, you know, almost like...

On a daily basis. You know? And it's always, like, somehow a way to deal with it. True. Fix it, possibly. Or as much as we can. And, yeah. So...

that's it but i totally forgot the question any challenges yeah challenges no 100 percent but i will keep them for myself yeah not so sure but uh yeah the challenge is to build a place it's already a big challenge challenge is basically for me every single day you know to like do maximum for like

to do like one more step you know because I feel like every day it needs to be one extra step forward you know and yeah sometimes it's one step forward two steps behind you know but uh challenges every day every day every day challenges for me to do like maximum 100 like you know to make uh

people exciting you know to like meet people yeah every day the last question for anybody who wants to come to visit your cafe what do you recommend them to order guys everyone everyone everyone everyone is welcome yeah everyone will always get the best treatment and i believe that everyone will find something what they like what they will enjoy what they will be interested

believe that they will meet new people there and yeah it's just different place you know it's like own own village that's cool yeah come on people come on it's very cold so yeah please guys everyone everyone yeah and come visit and uh

actually everyone can just make their own opinion and yeah follow put it on this one on instagram these guys too you won't miss any interesting event thank you theresa thank you thank you see you in the cafe see you see all of you guys yeah