KYN: The Front Porch Coffee and Tea Company

Quaint Coffee Shop In Ely

For many people coffee, means comfort and at the Front Porch Coffee and Tea Company in Ely the feeling is no different.

Owner Doug Scheibe says, “Coffee is one of my first loves, next to my wife of course, she’s my first love. That was it. I thought Ely needed some place in the afternoon for people to come because a lot of shops, especially in the winter closed early.”

Moving back to Ely in the year 2000, Doug Scheibe and his wife Nancy had a dream of owning a coffee shop tailored to locals, and open later in the evening.

Scheibe says,“My wife said what do you want it to look like? I said i want it to look like you’re walking in to your grandmother’s house or your mother’s home.”

In 2005, that dream became a reality.

Scheibe says,“I was raking my brain, I was trying to figure out what to call it and nothing seemed to fit until i was down at another coffee shop called the log cabin and it was designed to look like a log cabin and I thought, okay pudding head think about what you got, what are people going to looking at? They’re going to be looking at a porch, a wrap around porch. So I thought, the Front Porch.”

Like many small businesses getting started was anything but smooth java.

Scheibe says,“Actually that first summer was very difficult for my wife and I because we weren’t well known and we hadn’t built the business yet.”

Now The Front Porch is staple of the Ely community, with popular items such as pies and especially quiche known throughout the Northland.

Scheibe says,“I think one of the reasons we’ve been so successful is that our quiche is known across the Northland as being one of the best quiche’s in northern Minnesota.”

Always keeping pace with the small town way of life.

Scheibe says,“Especially in a smaller town people aren’t so much in a hurry like they are in the bigger cities and this is the place where people can gather and just connect with each other.”

Providing an important regular meeting spot for members of the community.

Scheibe says,“I think they like the friendly atmosphere, they always feel welcome. We have several groups of guys and gals who come in on a daily basis and we’ve actually created quite a family here within the community.”

The shop also features a unique taste of the way things used to be.

Scheibe says,“I’ll tell you, in this day and age people are just kind of transfixed to their phones. I know I spend a lot more time on my phone than I want to and I even texted some people today where a phone call probably would’ve been better, and I think people still long for that, still hunger for that, and if we provide a place for people to do that then i think we’re doing our job.”