Why every guest gets a handwritten note

Dear you,

Before anyone arrives at a Fika, there is a quiet hour when we sit with a stack of cards and a list of first names. We don't know most of the people on it. We write to them anyway.

The note is never long. Sometimes it's a question to think about over coffee, sometimes it's just "we're glad you came". But it is always written by hand, in ink, and it is always waiting at your seat before you sit down.

A room full of strangers feels different when everyone in it was expected.

We started doing it at the very first Fika, mostly because we were nervous. It turned out to be the thing people remembered. Guests tell us they keep the cards on their fridge, in their wallets, tucked inside the book they brought to a Reading Date.

It is a small, slow, slightly obsessive detail, and it takes far longer than it should. That is rather the point. A Fika is a deliberate pause, and the note is where the pause begins: before the coffee, before the conversation, before you've even said hello.

So if you come to one, look under your cup. There will be something there with your name on it.

With love, Team Fika ✿