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Cover Story

Coffee consumption
Please see the graph illustrating the Global leading coffee consuming countries in 2014 (average per capita cups
per year). In 2014, Finland topped the list with an average per capita coffee consumption of 1,252 cups per year. This
is equivalent to 3-4 cups per day. With so many people consuming a large amount this often leads to people who know
their coffee. From that drives a culture and a market that only want the best.

Sources: Euromonitor International (for the year 2014)

Nordic Roasting Style
Whereas consumers once and some still prefer the bitter, chocolaty taste of darker roasts, many of them have
now come to embrace the more fruity acidity in coffee. Coffee houses which celebrate Nordic coffee culture have been
popping up all over the world. In New York City’s, there is Oslo Coffee Roasters and Budin, a Scandinavian-style espresso
bar. Before the millennium, Taiwanese cafés and roasters mostly worked with dark or medium-to-dark roasts after the
second crack roasting style. This was in line with the American “Second Wave of Coffee” traditions. Since 2010, how-
ever, Taiwan has joined in the “Third Wave” movement and started experimenting with the lighter Nordic roast. There
is Fika Fika Café, Taipei, Taiwan, where they serve great lighter roasting hand brewed coffee with cakes. Meanwhile in
London, Nordic Bakery is serving Scandinavian coffee and baked goods in multiple locations around the city. These are
only a few examples of Nordic coffee shops popping up around the world, but if
New York, London, and Taiwan already approve of this wave of artistry the rest of
world is sure to follow suite.
Due to the Nordic countries heavy consumption of coffee, people try to
find ways to brew their coffee in the way that they can enjoy it for the whole day,
some say up to 5-7 cups of coffee a day. As with all great discoveries they found
that this method gives coffee a whole new spectrum in flavor, its well balanced,
sour or acidic, yet sweet along with it being light, in turn have given Nordic coffee
its unique appeal, a Nordic roasting style. We asked an exceptional roaster Michael
de Renouard, from The Factory Roaster, Denmark, “Regarding acidity in coffee,
another reason why we love acidity in coffee could be because we are used to acidity
from fruit. As a Northern country, we have to accept acidity from not having very
many sunny days with warmth during the year. Actually we like our fruit that way
because it adds to the complexity to the taste.” As for how the coffee tastes, opin-
ions are divided. Some complain that the light roasts are underdeveloped, overly
acidic, or unpleasant: others feel that the roasting styles are pushing coffee in a new
direction, expanding the spectrum of tastes! From observations, their coffee has
brilliant clarity of a well-executed light roast. The coffees are so “juice-like” that
it gives coffee a whole new exciting approach of tastes in the cup.
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