Let's Take a Tour

If you walked into the soon-to-be Fika Coffee Shop, you wouldn't necessarily know by the look of it what we had planned.  So, we're going to give you a little behind the scenes tour of what's going on.  Using a little bit of imagination, you can envision where we're going with this and why we're getting so excited.

Of course, we wish we could hand you a cup of coffee to sip on while we tour.  Since we can't, you can either sip on an imaginary cup (not recommended) or brew yourself a cup right now (recommended). Either way, let's start the tour.

We'll start outside.  Here's Josh, gesturing toward the front of the shop.  You see that beautiful, blank space where there's no sign?  That, friends, is the future home of the Fika Coffee sign and logo.  When you drive into Lutsen, our iconic Fika Bird will beckon you to stop and stay a while.

Inside, the underpinnings of a gorgeous shop are starting to appear.  In this photo, Woody Seim, local woodworker and dear Fika friend talks with Josh about the structure he's building for the espresso bar. When all is said and done, this space will be the stunning custom concrete counter top you step up to when ordering your coffee.  The espresso machine and delectable treats from Elfvin's Bakery will find their home right in this place.  You can see the concrete pouring process in the second photo below.

From this view, turn around to your left and you'll see this:

This delightful wallpaper was designed by Johanna Kindvall, of the Fika Cookbook we sell in our shop. We couldn't be happier with the way this wall turned out.  When you come to fika with us, this is where you'll sit.  Woody is making a walnut bar for this space.  We hope you'll linger at it, appreciating the talented folks who helped to create the welcoming space. While sitting at the bar, a peak around the corner to the right will reveal this room:

This room (to give you more prospective, the photographer is standing in the room looking out toward the espresso bar in the second photo) will house everything we need to make you a great cup of coffee. You'll see the roaster shining diligently in the corner.  You'll see bag after burlap bag of green (unroasted) coffee beans waiting patiently for their turn in the roaster.  There will be shelves full of coffee bags to be filled and boxes waiting to ship coffee to our friends who are too far away to stop in the shop.  We'll have a stainless steel table for weighing and bagging the coffee and a desk for all the necessary office work that comes with running a business.  Basically, when you look into this room, you'll see everything it takes to pull of what we're doing.  And while some business may not want you to see what they do behind the scenes, we're just fine with it.  When you walk in the door of our shop, you are welcomed as a friend and, in many ways, as a member of our big coffee family.  Seeing the whole picture of who we are and what we're doing is part of the authenticity we hope to share with you.

Outside the shop, some of the shelving and other wall hanging units are waiting for installation. Here, Josh is taking a closer look at one of the shelves that will hold all the coffee cups.  Plan to see this painted and trimmed in black and hanging on the wall opposite where Woody and Josh were standing in the first picture.

Here, Josh is holding up the hardware that will hold the menu board for the shop.  On opening day, all the delicious things we have to offer you will be listed on this board.  And, worth noting, the white wall that Josh is standing against won't be white for long.  A mural is being planned by a local artist. It will serve as beacon, calling all the caffeine-deprived, road weary travels off the highway and into our shop.

As you can probably tell, there's still a lot to be done before we officially open our doors.  From morning till night, there are tools humming and hammers hammering.  People are coming and going, all doing their part to get Fika ready for the anticipated day.  To say we are grateful to everyone who's given us their time and talent only hints at how appreciative we are.  It's an understatement to say we couldn't do this alone.

This guy, pictured here with Josh, is one of those people we are indebted to.  (Incidentally, they are standing in front of the wall that will house all our Fika merchandise.)  Grant, carpenter extraordinaire and a friend of Josh's from the coffee school in Muncie, IN that started this whole Fika concept, took time off from work and family to spend a whole week to help get Fika up and running. And he didn't just come from down the road; he came all the way from Kansas.  It was a privilege to have his expertise and skill and when you're finally able to walk in the front door, we think you'll see why we were so thrilled to have him.

Each day that peels off the calendar brings us one step closer to bringing Fika to you.  Thanks for being as excited as we are.  As we've said before, we can't wait until we can greet you with a hearty "Hey there!" as you walk through our front door in search of a really great cup of coffee.  Until then, friends!