Cafés in Finland Helsinki
The top coffee drinkers per person, light roasts and Juhla Mokka, coffee rationing until 1954, and Helsinki from Café Ekberg to Kallio.
Photo: Laura Lumimaa, Pexels License
Finland drinks more coffee per person than any other country. By the European Coffee Federation's count, Finns used more than 49 million kg of green coffee in 2022, or 8.9 kg each, about seven times the world average of just under 1.3 kg.1 In roasted coffee that comes to about 9 kg a year, or roughly three cups a day.1
The everyday cup is filter coffee, traditionally a light roast. In 2011, 94% of the coffee drunk in Finland was light roast.2 Dark roasts have gained since: by 2022 they made up almost 30% of what Finns drank, and among young adults dark-roast filter coffee was as common as light.1
Coffee reached Finland in the 1700s as a drink of the gentry and spread to ordinary households in the 1800s, when a steady supply was sometimes written into employment contracts.2 The first Finn known to have tasted it was Axel Käg of Turku, a chamber servant on a Holstein duke's journey to Persia in 1637.2
Finland's café cities
Bans, rye and the saucer
Finland was part of the Swedish realm when the crown first banned coffee in 1756. That ban was lifted in 1761, and later ones, imposed mostly for the treasury's sake, came and went for a few years at a time until 1802. During the bans, people learned to make substitutes, above all from rye.2
Consumption tripled between 1860 and 1913. Morning coffee became usual in the countryside in the 1880s and 1890s, and afternoon coffee in the early 1900s. From the late 1800s many drank it from the saucer, a habit still seen in rural Finland in the 1970s.2 A cheaper chicory coffee, sikuri, was made in Pietarsaari from 1883.2
Rationing from 1939 to 1954
Coffee was among the first goods rationed in the Second World War, from 28 October 1939, about a month before the Winter War began.3 From 1941 the substitute sold in its place held only a quarter coffee, the rest roasted rye, barley, turnip, pea and dandelion root. From 1943 it held no coffee at all.2
The first postwar cargo, about 2,500 tonnes of low-grade Brazilian green coffee aboard the steamship Herakles, reached Turku on 24 February 1946.3 Rationing ran for eight more years. Coffee was the last food to come off the ration, on 1 March 1954, after the Council of State repealed its coffee rationing decision.34
Paulig, Juhla Mokka and the light roast
Gustav Paulig, a merchant from Lübeck, opened a trading house in Helsinki in 1876 and imported more than 300,000 kg of green coffee in its first year.57 Most households still roasted and ground their own beans until 1926, and coffee was sold only as beans until the 1950s. Paulig brought Melitta filters to Finland in 1956.2
Paulig began roasting in a Katajanokka warehouse in 1904, and for the roastery's 25th year, in 1929, launched its first branded blends, Juhla and Presidentti.75 The first, originally Juhlasekoitus (festive blend), is now Juhla Mokka, a light roast; in 2019 Paulig said almost every second cup drunk in Finland was Juhla Mokka. The range now includes a Tumma Paahto (dark roast).6 Since 2009 the company has roasted beside Vuosaari harbor.7
Helsinki, from Ekberg to the roasters
The oldest café still running in Finland is Café Ekberg, opened by Fredrik Edvard Ekberg in Kruununhaka in February 1852 and at Bulevardi 9 since 1915. Napoleon cake and Runeberg tortes have been on its counter since the 19th century.8 Karl Fazer opened his French-Russian café and cake shop on Kluuvikatu in 1891, and confectioners still work there behind glass.9
Kaffa Roastery started in 2007 on Pursimiehenkatu in Punavuori, roasts on a fifty-year-old Probat, has published what it pays farmers since 2017, and has cafés in Kallio, Ullanlinna and Jätkäsaari.10 Andante on Fredrikinkatu changes its hand-brew menu daily. Helsinki Coffee Roastery runs a coffee bar at Teurastamo (the slaughterhouse), and each April the Helsinki Coffee Festival fills Kaapelitehdas, the former cable factory in Ruoholahti.10
Sources
- Kahvinjuonti opitaan edelleen kotona, mutta Suomen perinteinen suosikkimaku on vaihtumassa (Toni Joukanen, 29 October 2023), Yle, accessed October 2026
- Kahvi, Wikipedia (Finnish), accessed October 2026
- Tasan 80 vuotta sitten Suomeen saapui kauan odotettu laiva, jonka lasti oli kahvikansalle kultaakin arvokkaampaa (Rikhard Wacker, 24 February 2026), Moottori, accessed October 2026
- Päätös kahvin säännöstelystä annetun valtioneuvoston päätöksen kumoamisesta (23/1954), Finlex, Ministry of Justice of Finland, accessed October 2026
- 1876–2026, Paulig Group, accessed October 2026
- Suomen suosituin kahvi juhlii: Juhla Mokka täyttää 90 vuotta (press release, 3 September 2019), Paulig Group, accessed October 2026
- Paulig, Wikipedia (Finnish), accessed October 2026
- Café Ekberg, Wikipedia, accessed October 2026
- Fazer Café Kluuvikatu 3, MyHelsinki, City of Helsinki, accessed October 2026
- Quick Guide: Helsinki's rich coffee culture (16 November 2024), MyHelsinki, City of Helsinki, accessed October 2026
Cafés in Finland: questions
How much coffee do people in Finland drink?
Finland drinks more coffee per person than any other country. In 2022 Finns used more than 49 million kg of green coffee, 8.9 kg per person, about seven times the world average of just under 1.3 kg. In roasted coffee that is about 9 kg a year each, or roughly three cups a day, mostly filter coffee and traditionally a light roast.
When did coffee rationing end in Finland?
Coffee rationing in Finland began on 28 October 1939 and ended on 1 March 1954, when coffee became the last food to come off the ration. During the war, substitutes held a quarter coffee from 1941 and none from 1943. The first postwar cargo, about 2,500 tonnes of Brazilian coffee on the steamship Herakles, reached Turku on 24 February 1946.
What is the oldest café in Helsinki, Finland?
Café Ekberg is the oldest café still running in Finland. Fredrik Edvard Ekberg opened it in Kruununhaka in February 1852, and it has been at Bulevardi 9 since 1915. Napoleon cake and Runeberg tortes have been sold there since the 19th century. Fazer's café on Kluuvikatu followed in 1891.
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