Although International Coffee Day isn’t until October 1st, coffee is part of daily life for many Finns and Finnish Americans. I have been thinking a lot lately about what I experienced surrounding coffee culture in Finland. As you may already know, Finland is often cited as the country that drinks the most coffee per capita in the world. There is also a culture of coffee visits that I was able to experience while there, sometimes visiting more than one person’s home per day for coffee and treats on the weekends or university breaks.
Before I lived in Finland, I really did not drink coffee. I maybe would have some kind of sweet coffee drink now and then, but it wasn’t a regular occurance at all. When I lived in Oulu, that changed pretty quickly. I got a tiny yellow coffee maker (the tag said it was a coffee maker for a cabin) at a thrift store and bought some Finnish branded coffee from the grocery store. I figured I may need these not for me to make coffee every morning for myself, but rather for hosting guests. What I hadn’t neccissarily seen on the horizon were two years of coffee visits with friends and family of the friendship family (kummiperhe) I was connected with through the University of Oulu, as well as with some of the friends of my university friends. Some of the visits were seemingly spontaneous, something I was really not familiar with. We did not just drop in at other people’s homes growing up in Minnesota. My kummiperhe would sometimes decide to go check something out and enroute think outloud “Hey we know the people who live here, let’s stop in and see if they are home!”
I really enjoyed these kinds of visits. Although some days it was exhausting to be paying attention to so much Finnish, it let me meet a lot of different (usually older) Finnish people and I also really appreciated seeing their homes. There was a delightful variety of coffee mugs and treats and always really good coffee! On one of our visits, the hosts served us pulla rolls shaped like korvapuusti, but instead of the cinnamon-cardamom filling, she used a Fazer dark chocolate bar broken up into pieces and chopped up a bit into coarse hunks. Cardamom and chocolate? I was in and have made these since then. I remember the beautiful decorations in the home of another host we visited in Haukipudas. She had many Finnish-made textiles hanging on her wall and also a view out to the water. On another visit in Oulu I met a woman who made Finnish folk costumes for dolls. Since her name is Helvi, she thought it was just great that I had chosen Helvi as a Finnish nickname well over a decade before. She showed me so many dolls and pictures of dolls she had made Finnish folk costumes for and she gave me a doll wearing the Kokkola folk costume.
Since coming back from Finland, I often have coffee visits at home with especially my neighbor Britta. I have met up with friends (mostly other Scandinavian Studies friends and advisor from Gustavus Adolphus College), either at my apartment or out at a place serving coffee and pastries. Most recently I had Ilmari over for some coffee and freshly baked ruisleipä, he even left with a bottle of raparperisima (recipe will be posted soon). I have also been invited to a few of my Finnish-American friends’ homes to enjoy coffee with them. I am especially thinking of coffees and conversations with my Ladies of Kaleva sister Arlene and everyone’s favorite viili peddler, Steve Leppälä. Each time coffee and treats are served is a wonderful opportunity to chat and relax.
This coming week is a busy one for hosting coffee visits for me as Kayleigh Karinen from the University of Helsinki will be at my place on Monday to conduct a few interviews relating to her Finlandia Foundation National funded research project called Stories from Finnish America and I have some friends coming from Finland who will stop over for some coffee prior to heading north for the FinnFest festivities that begin later on next week in Duluth. Maybe see you wandering around the Tori?
Here is a sampling of Finnish coffee vocabulary:
Kylmä kahvi kaunistaa. - Cold coffee makes one beautiful.
kahvittaa - to serve coffee to guests
kahvittelu - a social coffee time
kofeiiniton - decaffeinated
pakkopulla - obligatory cardamom bread or other treat that one must eat when visiting a guest (I don’t think I have ever personally not had room for at least one piece of pulla being offered…)
Have you enjoyed being hosted for coffee at a home in Finland or experienced similar coffeee culture where you live? What is your favorite treat to make if you are hosting or what do you enjoy having with coffee when at a friend’s place or out?
Here are some recipe suggestions to make for your next kahvittelu:
