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C Story / Echo Cai. Layout / Yuqi

A cup of coffee has never been simply ing coffee consuming countries, with Finland

a cup of coffee. The history brewed
ranking first reaching 12 kilograms per capita
in this humble cup is virtually as
rich as the liquid itself. The cultur- in 2017 and Norway placing in the second with
9.9 kilograms, followed by Iceland with 9 kilo-
al impact this cup has exerted on is far greater grams per person.
than we could possibly imagine.
Since the 15th century, coffee has become Coffee culture dominates in Scandinavia
a beloved drink around the world. Over a hundred Though accounting for only 0.3% of the world’s
countries and millions of people consume coffee. population, the Nordic region contributes 5.5%
It has been one of the very few beverages that to the global annual coffee consumption. What
have successfully created a communal culture bred the rich coffee culture? According to Fritz
globally. But what coffee means to different na- Storm, former World Barista Champion from
tions varies considerably. It is interesting to find 2002 and founder of “Fritz Storm ApS” Consul-
that the values related to coffee are not clearly tant Company, coffee arrived at Denmark in the
linked to the extent that it is consumed or pro- 16th century. “It was for the first many years
duced. In some countries, coffee earns only for the rich people and also used
its prized place in the culture and as medicine. People at that time
has become part of national drank tea.” Storm told CTI, “In
identity. While in some oth- the beginning of the 18th
er regions, coffee has only century coffee came to all
been a matter of life ne- the farmers which by far
cessity. Why do these were the biggest group of
differences exist? people in Denmark, and
Let’s take a sip of from that time, Denmark
this humble cup. It would changed from tea drinkers
be exciting to explore a to coffee drinkers.”
beverage – coffee as a com- Interestingly, reli-
Photo / Marten Bjork
ponent in national identity, gion made a big difference
from perspectives of histories to boost coffee culture in Scan-
and life experiences. dinavia. Kirkekaffe, meaning
NATIONAL In the world’s top coffee consum- of drinking coffee with cakes after every
“church coffee”, introduced the habit
ing nations… service which was host by the clergy and
parishioners. It somewhat acted as a place for
-How does coffee become rooted in these
social gatherings and helped establish rela-
IDENTITY IN “unexpected” places which are far away from the tionship between the church and its congre-
coffee belt?
gations. The tradition continues and has been
If you have ever read Swedish writer Stieg
Larsson’s Millennium, you might be impressed part of the Nordic coffee culture.
You’ll find that Scandinavian nations have
by the amount of coffee drinking as he described. surprisingly dominated the coffee events and
A HUMBLE CUP coffee in their daily lives? As was stated by the addition to the fact that they create the rules and
Could anyone possibly take that great volume of
barista championships right from the start. In
International Coffee Organization, it may come
the mindset, the rich coffee culture nurtures and
as a big surprise to learn that all five of the Nor-
supports these people that they have been keep-
dic nations make the top six of the world’s lead-
ing focused and precise in what they do.

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