$15,000

WOW........Last week I sent out a personal email to friends asking them for prayer, as I get really close to pulling the trigger on some big decisions as to what Fika Coffee is going to look like for the up coming season. Well two days later I had someone gift us $15,000 dollars to go towards Fika. I was completely surprised, did not see this one coming. But it is a huge confirmation for me with this venture. The only string attached is they would like some coffee on a regular basis. They did ask that in time if I was able to "pay it forward" and bless someone else with a gift, they would like to see that. Well looks like a roaster will be on the way soon.

Going Public

On Sunday, January 29th Fika Coffee of Grand Marais opened the doors (albeit not its own, yet!) to the public. The event took place at the North House Folk School on the harbor in Grand Marais. The crowd was as diverse as the coffee, with children running around and grandparents sipping coffee and asking questions. Josh Lindstrom, proprietor, introduced Fika Coffee from the elevated hearth of the brick oven. With excitement and obvious  passion, he spelled out the mission of Fika Coffee, "....to offer quality roasted coffee and prepared espresso beverages with exceptional personal service. This mission will be accomplished through transparent financial practices, sustainable business methods, hard work, proactive partnership with the community, and a spirit for adventure."  The end of the mission stands out as critical--"community, and a spirit for adventure...". Fika is a Swedish word meaning, "coffee break", or more precisely, a break from the busyness of the day, the busyness of life,  a time set apart to slow down, drink some coffee and have a conversation about something close to the heart. Through these conversations our dreams take shape. They get breathed into and encouraged to grow. Our dreams become goals, our goals become attainable. With our community surrounding us, we embark upon a fearless pursuit of our dream, and through much work, we attain it.  ~Woody Seim~


I do say though that I was very very excited with the turn-out, we packed the place and drink a lot of coffee. I look forward to doing this in the very near future again, and continue to build relationships with folks in the community that are going to play a big role in Fika.

I brought in two future (wink wink) Fika employees, my good friends Woody Seim (checking the time) & Joel Pike (working the water)

Featured coffee from Stumptown Coffee Roaster to highlight cup characteristics from the three major coffee growing regions,  all coffee was mostly brewed with a french press.

I was able to do some brews on the V60 to highlight the difference one can taste, was very encouraging to have people notice the cleaner, brighter taste that came with the V60.

Cheers!!!

onWard

The last month or so has been a little hectic, we traveled to southern Wisconsin for Thanksgiving and while there received some very sad news of a death in the family.  Even though I have not posted lately we are still working on things here.

-Met with Grand Marias city council and got their apporval to have a coffee roaster downtown
-Our logo will be done by the end of the year,  keep you eyes open
-I have been meeting with future customers and have been encouraged, although I really need to get a coffee shop on board. Any connections send them my way
-Finding a location in a small town has proven to be a task, we currently have one option but it is moving slowly. And we need to get a location set so we can finish our business plan.
-I made a Fika Coffee Facebook page, make sure you "Like" it.

Thanks for being followers and I hope to someday soon share a Fika time with you all soon.

Kokekaffe on Gitchi Gummi

"wonder if i can swim out to that rock"

Recently I have been greatly encouraged from the Nordic Coffee Culture.  They have seem to have a culture and rich history of coffee, that really trumps our history here. When people here talk about their first memories with coffee it goes like this "my first memory of coffee is of my parents or grandparents, and the drip coffee maker pumping out the Folgers", our tradition is to drink horrible coffee, drink a lot of it, and drink it cold and old. From the little (and I do mean little) I know of the Nordic culture, there seems to be more of a tradition of coffee that is built around friendships, and they involve coffee into their lives and activities on a more meaningful level. No doubt they do drink a lot though. [if anyone has any good resource of Nordic coffee, send it  my way]

This past weekend was sunny and beautiful for the middle of November, so we loaded up the family and went to the shores of the great Gitchi Gummi (largest fresh water lake in the the whole wide world). We met some friends their, brought some snacks and had a little Fika time. I was inspired do brew some coffee down on the shore and do it up kokekaffe style. This inspiration came from reading this great blog post, which speaks of turkaffe (Norwegian hiking coffee). A Traditional Cup of Coffee

Start with some delicious coffee, I went with Cultivar Coffee from Dallas

Dry drift-wood works great for starting a fire

Boil 1 liter of water over the fire

While water is heating up, grind your coffee or have a friend grind it

Once water comes to boil, let cool a minute then add 65 grams of coffee and let steep for four minutes. 

Some notes

I did make sure to stir the coffee when I first poured it in the pot and did put a lid on it while it was steeping. After four minutes of steeping I scrapped off the foam and grounds from the top, but most of the grounds had settled to the bottom, much like when cupping. I was unsure of this brew method, but besides being romantic it brewed a very very sweet cup of coffee, I was very much pleased and surprised. The Finca Santa Clara of Guatemala had a deep dark sweetness of chocolates and cherries which I did not discover on my V60 when brewed at home.

 Now get some good coffee, call some friends go on an adventure and start a tradition.

Balance

Not to sure what to share, so I thought I would just share some personal thoughts that I have been having about this whole adventure.

First off is "Balance", balance is something we all need to get stuff done, simply put you don't have balance you will not be able to stand up and walk. I'm realizing that I need more balance in how I approach this venture. I tend to function more in the realm of an "idealist" as opposed to a "realist". When I function primarily as a idealist, I get nothing done. Because if its not done just the way I want it, or if I don't have all the resources and people that I think I need, I don't move , I don't make progress. Were has I were to function as a realist, sure I would get things done, but there would be no life to it, no joy, no hopes of dreams coming true.

So this is were I'm at right now. I have a vision of roasting and brewing coffee on a "speciality level" (this term is abused greatly) in a very small small community. There is about 1300 folks in the city limits of Grand Marais and about 4 to 5,000 in Cook County. Is there a demand for this product and service in this area? I do plan on going regional and state wide too...

Well don't worry things are moving forward and we are making progress. Met yesterday with our business mentor from "The Northeast Entrepreneur Fund" and it was a good meeting. We are making head way and still shooting to have this plan done by the end of the year.  The building side of things are moving slower then we would like, but our options are fairly limited up here.

"fee-ka"

This is a brief update of were things are at.  We have a tentative timeline that follows like this: Business Plan December 15th,  Build out and raise capital January - March,  Get equipment and set it up April,  Roasting by May and start selling at end of May. I'm very thankful for how things have progressed so far, and at the same time little overwhelmed with all that is going into this. I have finished the Executive Summary of the Business Plan which basically tells who Fika is, what we plan to do, who are customer is and just basic info. I would be willing to let any of you read it if you like, just email me.

Below is segment from the Summary that tells what Fika means and why I went with the name.

Fika Coffee Overview

Fika is a Swedish term meaning “coffee break.”  The word means much more than grabbing a cup of coffee. Fika literally means to take a break, to gather with friends or family, to take a respite.  It is both noun and a verb, and is in essence, as much about the social connection that happens durning the coffee break as it is the coffee.  It is in this spirit that Fika Coffee will roast its beans: with an emphasis on quality coffee and an appreciation for the connection and community that occurs over a well-prepared coffee drink.

I do

Well, last month I had the great pleasure of being in two different weddings. First my sister got married and I was able to walk her down the aisle with our mom. Secondly, our good friends, Wood and Rachael Seim, got married and I stood up as a groomsman. At both of these weddings, I was able to "test the metal" and do a little coffee catering. These were two very different receptions, my sister's was very small (40 people) and intimate on  a very warm, almost hot day. The Seim's reception was for around 150-200 folks on a nice, but rather windy/little-chilly evening. For my sister's I did it all myself it was not problem was able to brew up some great coffee, meet new people, talk to old friends, and share Fika. For Seim's I brought in reinforcement by way of a good friend Matthew Kunkle (who also is helping this Fika venture from afar). Matthew drove up from the Minneapolis to help brew some coffee. For both weddings we were brewing up Counter Culture Coffee with the Concepcion Huista from Huehuetenango Guatemala, by far being my favorite. Matthew and I got a little late set up than we had hoped for, but when we started brewing, we did not stop. We were doing 1.5 liter french presses and we had a line for the next two and half hours of people waiting for a cup. This was truly a Fika experience, as we had time to talk and share with people while they waited and sometimes they would even keep chatting after they got their coffee. These were great times for me to do what I love and share it with people. How is your Fika Time?

man to man or zone?

Last week I stopped by to talk with the city administrator to inquire about city codes for coffee roasters, such as, will I need an afterburner. Well I found out that, no, I will not need an afterburner. Although I did find out that downtown Grand Marais is not zoned for wholesale business, and the building I'm looking at is in downtown. So after talking to the city administrator he asked me to write the city a letter stating what it is that I would exactly be doing. I think this zoning policy is to keep out large industrial companies from coming right downtown and doing their thing. So I'm hoping for favor from the city now, that they will review this letter and approve of Fika Coffee Roasters coming to town. I will let you all know more when I know more.

Take a look its in a book . . .

I love to read, am a big reader. I'm also kind of a slow reader too, I have started many-a-book and read all but the last chapter or two (there's nothing good in the last couple chapters, anyways). I would like to share a book with you that some one loaned me to read; it is a business minded book. It is a very easy read, and I think even if you aren't in business it would still be a insightful and practical read.

The Book is... "The E Myth, Why Most Small Business Don't Work and What to Do About it" by Michael E. Gerber. If you are an avid reader, I would suggest you pick up this light read and you will have it done in no time. I would love to get some feedback if anyone does by chance read this book. I want to leave you with a quote-quote. In this book, the author quotes Carlos Castaneda:

"the difference between a warrior and an ordinary man is that a warrior sees everthing as a challenge, while an ordinary man sees everything as either a blessing or a curse"

here goes nothing, hope it's Something

 "here goes nothing hope its something" is what a friend and I would usually say before we launched into some crazy boyhood adventure. That same feeling I kinda have now, as I sit on the cusp of making a 7 year old dream become a reality. This time though I have a pretty clear vision of what I want, but it is the unkown that brings back this old childhood feeling.

My family (wife Stephanie, Claire 4, Sophia 3 and Leif 4months) and I just moved back to the North Shore of Lake Superior to Grand Marais, Minnesota to start our own small business.  This is truly going to be an adventure, something that is much larger then me. A quest into the unkown.

Simply put I love and have a passion for coffee and it's affects. So I want to share that with everyone I can, and I plan on sharing that by roasting coffee. So let me introduce you to "Fika Coffee". (now go and find out what Fika means)

"The simple things, the true things, the silent men who do things---then listen to the wild, it's calling you"