Tarot, beers and young mystics mingle in a new bar in downtown São Paulo

On a Thursday night, it is possible to intersperse sips of beers in downtown São Paulo with tips about your relationship and clues about the moment at work.

At Casa Lúpulo, a bar that opened earlier this year in Vila Buarque, drinking is mixed with tarot sessions held between tables, draft beer and refrigerators crammed with beer — after all, it’s not just alcohol there that makes the clientele reflect on life. .

The one who shuffles and takes out the cards is Juliana Bernardo, tarologist and owner of the space. Despite being integrated into the bar, the mysticism unfolds on a specific, round table with a candle and a blue velvet cloth.

Calls can be made by any client. The recommendation is that the appointment is scheduled before, but those who are excited at the time can also have a time – even because everyone who consumes is entitled to take a card free of charge with the tarologist. But there are deeper services: ten-minute sessions cost BRL 50, 20-minute sessions cost BRL 90 and, for those who have a lot to ask for letters, 30-minute sessions cost BRL 140.

Bernardo comments that people are usually surprised by the tarot in the middle of the bar, but that it was the cards that made Casa Lúpulo open its doors. “For nine years I tried to open a bar. It was with the money from the tarot that I got it”, says she, who also has a YouTube channel called Tarot Bar, with tips and cards of the week.

While the decks are scattered around the table, the craft beers available on the menu can accompany the session. The 600 ml Barra Funda, which pays homage to the São Paulo neighborhood, costs R$ 15, while the 473 ml Black Mist, a stout with an alcohol content of 10.9%, costs R$ 31.90.

The intimate environment has low lighting and a maximum capacity of just 22 people — the same amount of the major arcana of the tarot, which are the main figures in the deck.

The decoration is made with mined pieces and reused objects, which make the narrow bar gain a cozy atmosphere, with sofas and candles. “People comment that it looks like they entered a portal”, comments Bernardo.

The knack for enchanting young mystics seems to have also seduced the tarot writer’s parents, who share with her the daily obligations of the address — especially while she is drawing cards for a client. Tinho, nickname of Gilberto, the father, owned a bar in Vila Maria, a neighborhood in the north of the city, for almost 30 years, but which closed during the pandemic.

“Young people, old people, men, women, transvestites come here, it’s very different from my other bar, which was a traditional pub, with regular beers and the neighborhood’s pinguços”, says Tinho. “Here the beers are artisanal, I’m enjoying the change”, he says next to his wife, Lúcia.