Tamp, a cafe at 359 Wood St. specializing in coffee, tea, chocolate and confections with a decidedly European vibe, has been quietly building its ever-growing fan base — and now it has earned attention from beyond the 02809.

Named “Coffee Shop of the Year in The East Bay” by the Consumer Ratings Institute, the award recognizes Tamp’s 4.9-star rating across 104 reviews and honors the top 1% of all establishments nationally.

Tamp is the creation of Sean Reilly and Dillon Freitas. Originally from Miami, Reilly came to the northeast with the Coast Guard and following his service there worked as an emergency medical technician in Boston; Freitas, who spent his early years in Fort Lauderdale, grew up in Taunton and, until Tamp took off, worked at Newport Hospital.

The partners began Tamp in a food truck as a way to make extra income during the uncertainty of the pandemic economy. It was there that they built a loyal local following of roughly 250 customers at the Mount Hope Farmers Market.

“We were making truffles, chocolate bars, peanut butter cups, different types of corn breads and other baked goods. And it all kind of came about during the first government shutdown,” said Reilly. “We just kind of took a leap of faith and signed up for the farmers market, got our necessary health permits, and it turned out well.

“We wanted to become a part of the community first and then say, ‘Hey guys, we want to open up something’. I think it it was well received that way.”

Their coffee is imported from a roaster in Turin, Italy, an established family business whose next generation is holding on to the tradition and practices of their parents while scaling up operations. Teas are sourced in India, from a collective of neighborhood growers, before being crafted into blends. Their cacao is sourced from Hilo, Hawaii, and their baked goods come every day from a bakery in Boston’s North Shore. Meats and cheeses are imported from Europe. Every product has a story.

The culinary spark comes from Riley, who credits a high school employer and mentor from Alabama with his inspiration.
“I worked with this amazing woman. She gave me my first job,” he said. “And when I was on my break she would make me sit and read something from a cookbook and take notes on it and I just learned all these random things…and if I ever found something that I wanted to try, she would take me into the back to the kitchen and we would work on it together and it was almost like an apprenticeship. I have no traditional culinary training, just all first-hand learning, and messing up.”
Their chocolates are produced in Vermont by a chocolatier using Tamp’s proprietary recipes, with Reilly and Freitas managing the supply chain of ingredients. “We get our cacao, our milks, all of the ingredients, we have it sent to them and they produce what we were producing. They use the exact same molds that we were using. It’s a little more expensive to do it that way, but it leaves us able to run the business.”
Open 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. 7 days a week, they currently have five employees and are hiring another.

“Our operations scaled quicker than I could have ever hoped for,” said Reilly.

Soon they will have the footprint to match. They have taken over the lease of the adjacent space, formerly home to Van’s Spa, which was closed by a fire earlier this year. They hope to open into their expanded space before the end of the year.

“Bristol has been so welcoming, it’s been incredible,” said Freitas. “We've met so many people, and made so many amazing connections.”

“Now we truly feel rooted within a community,” said Reilly, who as a coastguardsman was accustomed to moving constantly. “You actually wave to people, walking down the street, running into people at the post office or in the grocery store. It's such an awesome feeling.”