Drinking coffee in the land of fika and geothermal geysers

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When it comes to drinking coffee, Icelanders are over-achievers.  They rank #3 in the world in terms of per capita consumption, with Finland and Norway taking the top 2 spots.  And although this small Nordic island country only has 350,000 people, there are cafes everywhere.  In fact, Iceland’s home-grown café scene is so robust that there is no need for Starbucks in Iceland.

Coffee permeates Iceland’s culture, affecting every aspect of life, from work, to play, to love. Although coffee didn’t come to Iceland until 1703 (very recently given the long, long history of Europe), by the mid-1700’s, virtually every household in Iceland had a coffee grinder and roaster. 



Coffee plays an important part in love rituals in Iceland. In a famous Icelandic novel, published in 1935 by Halldor Laxness, coffee-drinking took center stage.  This novel depicted the hard-scrabble life of Icelandic peasants, oppressed by debt-bondage and an inhospitable landscape. There were moments of sweetness, however, including a wedding scene in which everyone in attendance drank 5 cups of coffee each---what a celebration!

On the rugged shore near the Intercontinential Divide in Iceland.


Traditionally, women were judged by their ability to brew good coffee for their families---and even now, it is expected that if a visitor drops by, a cup of coffee will be forthcoming.  As a visitor to Iceland earlier this month, I experienced that wonderful ‘coffee hospitality.’ Icelandair serves amazing coffee. In our hotel in Keflavik, breakfast (which started at 4 am) was accompanied by unlimited coffee, and beautiful white ceramic cups---which were also highly functional and sufficiently large to limit the number of trips back and forth to the coffee counter.

Perhaps you’ve heard of the term ‘hygge,’ a Danish word that means ‘cozy, charming, and special.’ Well there is another Scandinavian term widely used in Iceland---Fika (fee-ka). Fika means ‘stop whatever you are doing and enjoy your coffee.’  It’s basically the northern European ‘coffee and cake’ tradition on steroids.

As summer wanes and fall approaches, I am prepping for a long season of hygge and fika with friends and family, and although I am not Icelandic, I am a coffee over-achiever and I know how to fika like a pro!

Learn more about the hygge and fika traditions here. https://wowair.us/magazine/hygge-and-fika/



Comments

jessica said…
Wow, I had no idea Iceland had such a rich coffee culture! I always learn something new and interesting from your blogs! :) I definitely think coffee is central to hospitality -- whenever I have anyone over -- friends, the plumber, our building super, etc. -- I always offer water AND coffee, because that's what I would want to be offered lol. Also, it's good to know Iceland is café-packed because, as I may have mentioned, Jake is obsessed with going there and if I'm going with him, there had better be coffee. Did you know there's a café in midtown Manhattan called Fika? I never knew what it meant until now - what an AMAZING concept. Definitely adding that to my vocabulary!!
August 29, 2018 at 1:05 PM
Nicole Gray said…
I wonder if there is such a thing as summer fika---if so it involves cozying up under a blasting AC. :)
July 30, 2019 at 10:37 PM
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