Michal runs a coffee roastery in Skövde

After longing for Sweden for many years, Michal and Joanna finally took the leap and moved here almost five years ago. Today, they have not only realized their dream of a new everyday life in a new country, but also of running their own coffee roastery!

Michal Ciesielski is actually trained as a classical guitarist and has worked for a time as a guitar teacher. But his greatest passion is something else: a small bean that is roasted the right way, ground, and brewed into an aromatic and flavorful drink – coffee.

Michal and his wife Joanna are from Poland and visited Sweden for the first time almost twenty years ago. But already after their first visit, they were enchanted.

“When we came back home to Poland, it felt strange. Poland was no longer ‘home’ - we longed to return to Sweden. We started learning Swedish to prepare for a move. In 2019, we were ready and moved together with our daughter.”

Michal’s wife Joanna, who is a doctor, got in touch with the Västra Götaland Region and secured a job at the hospital in Trollhättan. So when the family moved to Sweden, that’s where they settled. Michal also started looking for work and after a while got a job at the music school in Mariestad. The family took a trip to the Skaraborg region, and once again they fell head over heels.

“My daughter said, ‘We have to move here!’ and the rest of the family agreed!”

Joanna switched to a position at Skaraborg Hospital, and Michal started working as a guitar teacher in Mariestad. After a couple of years in an apartment in central Skövde, the couple bought a plot of land just outside the city center and built their dream home. At the same time, another dream was growing - a dream of starting to produce their own coffee.

Coffee – from hobby to business

It started as a hobby. Michal’s interest in coffee had always been there, and the family had made many trips with coffee as the focus.

“I love real coffee! But it has to be made from freshly ground beans that are roasted the right way. We used to buy a lot of beans roasted in Italy, but when I tried roasting them myself, I realized I could make much better coffee on my own!”

Before long, what began as a hobby had turned into a dream of running a business.

“A lot of people want really good coffee! When I had experimented my way to excellent coffee, I thought more people should be able to experience this. We discussed it as a family and decided to give it a try.”

As Michal started investing in larger machines to scale up his production, he also began searching for premises. Continuing to produce coffee at home was no longer an option.

“I contacted the Municipality of Skövde and got help right away! Thanks to the business unit’s extensive network, I found several potential premises to look at. After a while, I met the owners of Karlsfors Farm just outside Skövde, and everything fell into place. They not only had suitable premises but also businesses we could develop together with.”

Locally produced coffee

Today, the coffee, roasted in Skövde, is sold both in a small café next to the larger one already located at Karlsfors gård (Karlsfors farm) and in an online store.

“We import our beans from Brazil and Ethiopia. The Brazilian beans taste of cocoa and peanuts, while the Ethiopian ones are very fruity with notes of blueberry in the aftertaste. Based on these two types of beans, I create different blends.”

Michal gives all his coffee varieties playful and clever names. For example, there’s the 50/50 blend called “Lagom is Best”, or the slightly stronger “Pappaledig" (Parental Leave). The latest addition to the range is a bold espresso blend named “Closed at 3 PM on Saturday? Have Coffee Instead.” It refers to the Swedish liquor monopoly, Systembolaget, the only place to buy alcohol in Sweden, which closes at 3 PM on Saturdays and is completely closed on Sundays.

The name of Michal’s company is also a play on words - a combination of two things he loves about Sweden.

“We chose to call it Fika Moose. Fika is such a typically Swedish concept and a wonderful tradition, so we knew right away that we wanted it to be part of our company name. We also really appreciate Sweden’s nature, and around our house in the forest there are many moose. We played with the idea of including the moose in the name, and to make it work in more markets, we chose English: Fika Moose!”

This text has been translated with the help of AI.