Coffee and Superfood

As well as being the happiest people in the world, Finland has also taken the crown as the number one coffee-drinking nation per capita, with each person consuming roughly 4 cups of coffee per day and 26 pounds of coffee annually. It begs the obvious question, is there a link between happiness and coffee consumption?

Coffee is such a part of the culture that coffee breaks are mandated by most trade unions. Perhaps the reason coffee is so popular is because of the often freezing temperatures. A hot, strong beverage is a must and, in my experience, the typical Finnish person makes pretty strong coffee! Historically, the Finns also attributed other health-positive properties to coffee. This is why coffee was initially available in pharmacies. My Dad (Donie Sheahan) missed out on that business opportunity when he opened his pharmacy in Main Street, Killarney back in 1953!

In the Finnish language, “coffee” is not descriptive enough for this ever-present beverage, so there are many more nuanced words such as aamukahvi (morning coffee), päiväkahvi (day coffee), iltakahvi (evening coffee), matkakahvi (travelling coffee) and even saunakahvi (sauna coffee). It puts in mind our own, hair of the dog drink, pick me up drink, one for the road drink, last one before Lent/dry January/bedtime drink.

Finland has a booming coffee culture with cafés and shops on every corner. One of the most popular and ubiquitous is Fazer Café and we have one within a stone’s throw of us. Karl Otto Fazer, a Finnish businessperson, established a coffeehouse (café) in Helsinki in 1891. His café evolved into a Finnish empire of restaurants, coffee shops and a widely recognised chocolate and brand bearing his surname Fazer. It’s pretty much Finland’s equivalent to the United Kingdom’s Cadbury and Amsterdam’s Tony’s, my personal favourite. I must admit I do love getting my coffee served with a little bar of Fazer’s milk chocolate on the saucer.  

Various different flavour bars of Fazer chocolate are for sale near the cash register of all of the Fazer Cafés I’ve been. Most of the time I try to resist, but, in the interests of research, I had to try out one of their newest flavours. I was intrigued by the name as much as anything else. It declared itself as Amerikan Pastilleja, translated on the accompanying sign in English as American Lentils Chocolate Tablet. What? Really? It turned out to be a perfectly nice bar of milk chocolate with what we Irish know as 'Smarties' sprinkled throughout the bar. Not a lentil in sight (thank goodness?), nor indeed a chocolate one.

In my ignorance, I had no idea that Robert’s Coffee was also a Finnish enterprise. It just doesn’t sound ‘Finnish’ to my ear. I had heard of the Paulig coffee brand. (Paulig is a Finnish family-owned food and drink company, founded in 1876). But Robert's Coffee is a coffee roastery and coffee chain founded in 1987 by Robert Paulig, the former CEO of Paulig. In 2014, the Paulig Group acquired the roastery and the Robert Paulig trademarks from Robert Paulig after a good old-fashioned family row and long trademark disputes. The Robert's Coffee chain was not part of the deal and is still owned by the Robert Paulig family.

Another drink that Finland is famous for is its blueberry juice. FinnAir operates the only direct flights from Dublin to Helsinki currently and it offers delicious complimentary blueberry juice on the flight. It's one of the few remaining small pleasures I look forward to in air travel. Often labelled a "superfood," the blueberry is bursting with nutrients, many of which are classified as antioxidants and phytochemicals. Bilberries are those delicious blue Nordic blueberries, and are, apparently, real vitamin bombs. It is claimed they contain more antioxidants, vitamin C, resveratrol, vitamin E and ellagic acid than any other berry. The bilberry is common in all parts of Finland. It is a typical coniferous forest plant whose sprigs can keep growing for up to 30 years.

Between drinking copious amounts of coffee and blueberry juice and perhaps just a little alcohol, (which will require an entire blog post!), I reckon the Finns are able to survive Kaamos, that mystical period between December and January when the sun does not rise at all. My research informs me that, although Kaamos is the darkest period of the year, it is rarely pitch black. Finnish Lapland is located close enough to the Arctic Circle that, although the sun stays below the horizon, sunlight still reaches the upper layers of the atmosphere, allowing some ambient light through. Blue twilight is typical for the Polar Night in northern Finland. The moon may also light up the sky, and the snow reflects its light.

In the southern parts of Finland, where we live, there is no Polar Night, but the days are still short. For example, in Helsinki the length of the shortest day of the year is less than six hours. Thankfully, it is quite noticeable now that the days are getting longer. It won’t be long until I am drinking my first cup of coffee and my first glass of blueberry juice of the day in actual daylight.