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What’s the Deal With Scandinavians and Light Roasts?

In the last couple of decades, Denmark has achieved a reputation as kind of a mecca for specialty coffee lovers. What is the reason?

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Asser Christensen

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Last year, a journalist asked me to help her with an article about Nordic coffee. More specifically, she had some questions about the history of coffee in Denmark. This gave me a chance to read up on a bunch of old tales that I had no clue about.

There’s a lot of hype and mystique surrounding Nordic coffee, but the beginnings are also fascinating. Dwelling more on it, I realized that there is a sort of ‘coffee paradox’ in Denmark and the rest of the Nordic countries. But to understand the paradox, you also have to know the history.

There are a lot of common myths about Nordic light roasts, so if you’re wondering what it’s all about, this article is for you. Naturally, I’ll mainly focus on Denmark, but there’s a lot of overlap between the Scandinavian countries.

From luxury to factory fuel

Coffee first reached Europe in 1615 via Venetian traders. The first recorded appearance of coffee on Danish soil was in 1665, arriving alongside tea and tobacco.

There’s a terrific book about Danish coffee by historian Annette Hoff, which serves as the primary source for this brief historical overview.

In the first century after its introduction, only the nobility could afford luxuries like coffee – and they preferred tea anyway. While coffee appeared at weddings and special occasions, it wasn’t yet a daily drink.

kaffehistorie

Coffee became Denmark’s most popular beverage during the 19th century, largely due to increasing farmer prosperity.

Back then, country folk occasionally drank tea made from local medicinal herbs. This led them to view tea as a “beverage for sick people” – a perception that older generations partly maintain today. Tea was for weaklings; coffee was for the healthy and active.

The beginnings of Danish coffee culture

Coffee perfectly suited the rural farmer’s lifestyle – rising early and working hard.

When industrialization swept through the 19th and 20th centuries, country folk brought their coffee preference with them as they moved to city factories. Since most Danes were farmers just a few generations ago, this coffee culture runs deep – if not in our genes, then certainly in our heritage.

Coffee had a rival among the working class, though, and it wasn’t tea. Many laborers favored brandy and other cheap spirits. Unsurprisingly, housewives preferred their husbands drink coffee instead. This led unions and housewives’ associations to actively promote coffee consumption, even placing coffee trucks near major factories and central locations.

Coffee as an institution

By the beginning of the 20th century, coffee had become essential to Danish life. In her book, Annette Hoff shares an account of a man born in 1888. Growing up in a low-income family, his parents could rarely afford meat, and he had to start working full-time at a tobacco factory at just ten years old. Yet despite this poverty, the family still consumed coffee daily.

Given that coffee has been an essential part of life in Denmark for more than a hundred years, it’s only natural that many social rituals have come to revolve around the beverage.

For more than a century it’s been a social lubricant: It’s less formal than dinner and more refreshing than drinking alcohol. Coffee with cakes or cookies is an essential part of the famous Danish ‘hygge‘.

A giant version of “Madam Blå” outside the head office of traditiional coffee roaster Peter Larsen (Credit: Lars Schmidt, CC SA 3.0)

From around 1900-1950, a blue enamel percolation brewer called ‘Madam Blue’ was the primary brewing method in Denmark. Every home had one, and they tended to last for ages. If you go to a Danish flea market today, you will surely see one.

(It looks almost identical to the kettle in this site’s logo, just cyan blue instead of orange.)

Even though Melitta Bentz patented the paper filter in the early 1900s, it didn’t reach its current shape until the 1930s. It started to become popular in Germany, but then the 2nd World War broke out.

After the war it slowly started to to gain a foothold in Denmark, and eventually the drip coffee maker took over as the brewing method of choice.

Today, around half of the Danes prefer drip coffee, while number two is the French press, with only 15 %.

I haven’t seen any statistics, including pour over coffee, but I suspect that it’s still quite rare.

While there were many small coffee roasters in the years from 1900-1950, they were more or less all consolidated by 1970, when vacuum-packed coffee started to become a thing. Many of these roasters still exist today: for example, Merrild and Peter Larsen.

Denmark: A Coffee country?

In the last couple of decades, Denmark and the rest of the other Nordic countries have achieved a reputation as some kind of mecca for specialty coffee.

Denmark is indeed one of the countries with the highest consumption per capita. But the majority of that coffee is far from specialty grade.

La Cabra in Aarhus is one of the most famous Danish roasters

Much of the reputation probably has to do with baristas from Denmark winning the World Barista Championship four times in its early days between 2000 and 2006.

Around that time the ‘third wave of coffee’ movement began to take off. Norway also took home two titles in the same period, so somehow, Scandinavia seemed to be interconnected with this new epoch for coffee.

The reality is that the World Barista Championship back then was nothing like it is today.

A few years back, I interviewed Fritz Storm – the 2002 champion – who told me that it’s questionable how much emphasis one should put on these early victories. For instance, he said, he used Illy as his competition coffee – and so did the previous year’s champion.

The Scandinavian countries also had a few advantages in the beginning: The competition was organized by Norwegians, and it was primarily taking place in Western Europe and the US, so it naturally favored coffee people from affluent countries with English proficiency.

Two prominent early champions were Tim Wendelboe and Klaus Thomsen, today seen as ambassadors of a particular Nordic approach to coffee.

Wendelboe, by his own account, was not roasting particularly light back then. That journey didn’t start until 2008, when he cupped some lighter coffees with the American founder of Ninety Plus and was blown away by the flavor clarity.

Coffee Collective opened their first café in Copenhagen that same year. I can’t exactly pinpoint when I went there for the first time, but it was probably around 2009. I do remember that I thought they roasted shockingly light, so it must have been uncommon back then.

Nordic light roasts?

Looking at Danish specialty coffee pioneers like The Coffee Collective, you might think there’s a national preference for light roasts. That would be a misunderstanding.

Middle-aged people generally prefer full-bodied, medium roasts that can stand up to milk and sugar.

Meanwhile, the slightly younger people from Generation X formed their coffee preferences in the late nineties and early noughties. They are used to even darker roasts since that’s when the Italian and American coffee culture started to blossom in Denmark. At a cafe, they will order an espresso or latte rather than a pour over.

In reality, most Danish people don’t care for light roasts. I experience that every time I brew coffee at family gatherings. I’m frequently told that it’s “tea-like,” which is not meant as a compliment

There’s an interesting anecdote to back up this point. A few years ago, Copenhagen-based Noma began serving pour over brewed on Tim Wendelboe-beans.

Even though this restaurant is famous for serving avant-garde Michelin food, they were met with massive pushback from customers and food critics when serving lighter roast coffee. Noma-founder Rene Redzepi stated that the criticism was far harsher than when they served any of their many outrageously avantgarde dishes.

Specialty in a farmer culture

There’s a dozen of prominent roasters similar to Tim Wendelboe and The Coffee Collective in Scandinavia today.

They purchase the best green beans, and roast consistently good coffee. If you walk into a third wave coffee shop in East Asia or North America, there’s a good chance you’ll see some Danish or Scandinavian coffee on the shelf.

Pro tip: If you want to get more familiar with Nordic roasters, you should sign up to Kaffebox; a coffee club which only deals with the best modern light roasts from Scandinavia.
The Coffee Collective is one of the most famous coffee roasters from Northern Europe

However, these coffee brands don’t represent the general coffee culture. It’s more of an urban thing, catering to the young and well-heeled.

While I can mainly speak for Denmark and Sweden, Norway seems similar, though they embraced the “third wave” slightly earlier. They also have brands like Solberg & Hansen and Stockfleth’s that successfully blend heritage with modern approaches.

Yet when you add it all up, the Nordic countries’ biggest coffee brand is Espresso House – a Starbucks-inspired chain founded in Sweden in 1996.

In a way, it’s similar to the ‘new‘ Nordic cuisine. Many of these famous restaurants located in Copenhagen and Stockholm brand themselves on ‘Nordic’ values and ingredients, but the majority of the guests are globetrotting foodies, not locals.

The coffee equivalent is the wave of Nordic third-wave roasters that emerged between 2007-2017. These ambitious new roasters shared an artistic vision of coffee’s potential, emphasizing direct trade relationships with farmers and transparency in both roasting and business practices. It’s a fantastic ethos – just not one that resonates beyond a relatively narrow circle.

The average Joe (or as Danes say, Hr. og Fru Hakkebøf) typically buys stale, pre-ground medium roast from the supermarket. Some stay loyal to specific brands, and a few even grind at home, but for most people, coffee remains purely a matter of price and convenience. While these supermarket blends may boast “100% Arabica” on their labels, they’re still a far cry from specialty grade.

The Future of Nordic coffee?

Where will the Danish and Nordic coffee pendulum swing in the future?

It’s going to be interesting to see. On the one hand, the brands in Denmark, Sweden, and Norway are sourcing and roasting coffee on an elite level. Similarly, their branding (which is very important in today’s crowded coffee space) is among the best in the industry.

stiller coffee roasting aarhus denmark
Great Coffee is one of the pioneers of specialty coffee in Denmark

However, the regional coffee preference reflects generations of ingrained habits.

In a way, specialty coffee is the exact opposite of that farmer/worker style of coffee our ancestors consumed. This is also the case on a more symbolical level: Danish (and Nordic) culture embraces egalitarianism – not standing out, remaining average. That’s the charitable interpretation. The darker view traces this conformity to the Law of Jante.

Being fussy about coffee quality is often viewed as eccentric if not downright foolish. I feel a hint of embarrassment when explaining to my Jutland acquaintances that I need special water with precise alkalinity levels to brew light-roasted coffee properly. In fact, if we’re talking about misunderstood and marginalized minorities in Denmark, coffee geeks might top the list.

New Markets

In countries where there’s no local coffee culture to speak of, people are much more open-minded to trying new things. We can see this in coffee-producing countries, where there’s suddenly a surge in national pride connected to the crop, which used to be part of a colonial agenda.

And precisely that is the paradox: Because the Nordic countries have such a long history with coffee, they also tend to be conservative.

The irony is that Nordic coffee is often put on a higher pedestal in those newer markets than back home.

My suspicion is that Danish and Scandinavian specialty brands are going to use their international recognition and branch out to new markets, just as Noma has done in the culinary world. Afterall, there are only around 21 million people living in Scandinavia.

I would be surprised if we don’t see more roasters follow in the heels of Norwegian brand Fuglen, and opening up roasteries in affluent parts of Asia in the coming years.

Update 2023: Since I wrote the article a few years ago, my prediction has turned out correct: April has opened a café in Seoul, La Cabra in Bangkok, and German (but Scandi-inspired) The Barn in Dubai.

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Asser Christensen

Hello, and welcome! I'm the editor & founder of this site.
I have been a coffee geek since I started home roasting more than a decade ago. Since then, coffee has taken me on countless adventures: From ancient coffee ceremonies in Ethiopia to the volcanos of Sumatra.
My background is in journalism, and today I'm also a licensed Q Grader under the Coffee Quality Institute.