French and German influences mark the roasting, grinding, preparing and serving of coffee in Norway. Unlike most of Europe, where people would go to coffeehouses, Norwegians tended to serve coffee in their homes.
The boiling method has many followers. A big (open) copper kettle used. This is filled with water and the coffee is dumped in and boiled. In the poorer–class country homes, the copper kettle is brought to the table and set upon a wooden plate.
When coffee was first brought to Norway by traders in the 1600s, it was very rare, foreign and expensive.
Because water was not safe to drink and the laws permitted anyone to brew their own alcoholic drinks, it was a pretty inebriated society.
The local churches played a big role in promoting the role of coffee and established a tradition of ‘church coffee’ which to this day involves gatherings in Sunday afternoon around coffee. Coffee consumption increased in the 1840s and 50s. This due to reduction of tax by 70% in 1938 and the price of coffee was going down rapidly.
One of the largest coffee producers in Norway is B. Friele & Son. The company founded in 1800, opened a seven storey plant in 1938 in Bergen, featuring electric roasters and other modern refinements.
Today Norwegians consume an average of 12.25 pounds per person, making them the world’s biggest consumers of coffee per inhabitant. And they are coffee purists who prefer to drink their coffee black to savor its full aroma and flavor.
Coffee in Norway
