About 1 — Dråpe Ålesund Kaffehus

From dream, to vision, to reality

The dream
Our history has traces and roots all the way back to 2004, when Lyspunktet café and coffee shop opened its doors in Kipervikgata in Ålesund. This was the realization of a dream at the time, to have a coffee shop in the city center. This coffee bar was to be a gathering place for coffee lovers, and a supplement to the cultural life of the city, with a separate stage in the venue, for concerts and various performances. In addition, the walls of the room were made available for local artists to exhibit their art.
We had a wonderful journey of 15 years with this cafè. Everything has its measured lifespan. For Lyspunktet, it was 15 years of an adventurous journey. It was sad to close this chapter. But at the same time we were carrying a new "café baby" who was to be born and grow out of this vision. The Dråpe dream came true while we were still in Lyspunktet's premises. As it became clear that the days of that place were numbered, this dream moved on to become a vision.

On the bar it says: “We are brewing while building”

The vision

The vision was a coffee house, inspired by the coffee houses in Europe several hundred years back in time. Back then it was the coffee houses that were the meeting place for the citizens. They met there over a cup of coffee and that was were ideas and dreams, where cultural life got "new legs to walk on", and these coffee houses eventually became what we today call our culture houses. Coffee, cultural life, creativity and entrepreneurship grew and flourished from the coffee houses.

Reality

The vision quickly became a reality, as it was important to us that our city did not lose this place, which had managed to become an important part of the cityscape. We wanted all our friends and guests at Lyspunktet not to have to wait long before they could meet over coffee with us again.

Storgata 4 was vacant, and we got to rent this place, right in the city center. Actually this was a dream location! It took us 6 weeks to put the premises in order. Those weeks we worked day and night, and there were many of us who had neither held a drill nor a paintbrush in our hands before ... New floors, new ventilation system, construction of a kitchen, toilets, coffee bar, demolishing walls and building walls, finding the right furniture and interior. Fortunately, we had a skilled and patient construction project manager, Jan Huse, with all the skills needed! Not to mention all the friends and acquaintances who lined up with food, tools and helping hands.

The opening day for Dråpe Ålesund Kaffehus was 12 April 2019, and it was an adventurous experience to see guests standing in line outside, and then fill up the café in no time!

Dråpe-dream

The Dråpe dream was in the first round about multiplying the concept that we had such faith in. We wanted to expand our tent pegs, go further for, and with, others.

For us, the name Dråpe, as in drop, contains first and foremost movement, secondly beauty, vulnerability and strength, humility and hope. All these words open up landscapes in the mind, create curiosity and openness - and makes you want to taste more.

Coffee drops are a precious commodity. Every single coffee bean is a hand-picked coffee berry in its country of origin, from coffee trees grown with patience and care. The berries are picked by hand, washed, dried, sorted by hand and packed in large bags before being sent off to a coffee roastery in Norway.

The word drop combined with coffee is often used locally in peoples homes at Sunnmøre, where you always will be offered a cup of coffee. A local way of saying it; "You do not want a drop of coffee then?"

(When in asking a question, it is quite common to put the words in a negative order, while expecting a positive answer ...)

Who are we?

Ragnhild Tunheim Huse

is the owner, visionary and initiator, from Ørsta but has been living in Ålesund since 1998. She and her husband Jan Huse have four kids, - all of them are employees or engaged in the business. Ragnhild was a chef and CEO at Lyspunktet AS, before starting Dråpe Coffee House.
Rebekka Fernandez del Valle

is co-owner, barista, chef and an artist from Bergen. She moved to Ålesund in 2014 with a clear vision and dream to run her own café. Accompanying her is Santiago from Mexico, her husband, who is also an employee at the Coffee House.
Samuel Dragon

is co-owner, head of kitchen, barista and boardgames maker. He moved to Ålesund from France, his home country, in 2013 with a clear vision about running a café.