The Musical Society and Finland’s oldest orchestra

Today Finns drink more coffee per person than anyone else in the world. In the 1700s coffee was a new, expensive and suspicious drink, and the government tried five times to ban it. It never really worked.

A new drink from the south

• From Constantinople to Sweden. A Swedish envoy, Claes Rålamb, met coffee in Constantinople in 1657. The first recorded shipment of coffee arrived in Gothenburg in 1685 Well documented.
• Coffee houses in Turku. Coffee-house culture came to Finland from Stockholm, through Turku, in the 1740s. By the end of the century Turku had about ten coffee houses Well documented.
• Cellars and their keepers. Turku’s taverns and restaurants were called “cellars”, and the people who ran them were called trahtöörs. The town imported about 20,000 litres of French red wine a year Well documented.
• A drink for the better-off. Coffee had to be imported from far away, so at first it was drunk mainly by the gentry and wealthier townspeople Likely.

Why ban coffee?

• Money leaving the country. Under the economic thinking of the time, called mercantilism, a country grew rich by selling more than it bought. Coffee, tea and sugar were imports, so every cup sent money abroad Well documented.
• Doctors’ warnings. Many doctors thought coffee was harmful. The great botanist Carl Linnaeus warned about it, and a dissertation on coffee was written under him in 1761 Likely.
• A dangerous drug? Some people called coffee a harmful drug, and some even believed it stirred up the passions Well documented.
• Tax first. In 1746 a royal edict attacked the “misuse and excesses” of tea and coffee. Coffee drinkers had to pay heavy taxes. Those who did not pay were fined and had their cups and dishes confiscated Well documented.

Five bans

• The dates. Coffee was banned in 1756–1761, 1766–1769, 1794–1796, 1799–1802 and, in Sweden only, 1817–1823 Well documented.
• Inspectors in Turku. During the bans, inspectors kept watch in Turku so that no coffee was sold. Even so, as one historian puts it, the smell of coffee still hung over the town Well documented.
• Hard to enforce. The bans were largely ineffective. People kept buying smuggled coffee and drinking it behind closed doors Well documented.
• Finland escapes the last ban. In 1809 Finland became a grand duchy of the Russian Empire (stop 25). The last Swedish ban, of 1817–1823, did not apply here Well documented.

A forbidden shopping list

• Not just coffee. The first coffee ban was part of a decree of 1756 that forbade all unnecessary imports. Sweden’s rulers wanted the country to pay for what it needed with what it sold abroad Well documented.
• In Finnish too. So that the message would reach everyone, the decree was also issued in Finnish. For many foreign foods it is the first time their names were written in Finnish at all. Some were not even translated: coffee beans, tea and cocoa beans appear in their Swedish forms, caffé-bönor, the and cacao-bönor Well documented.
• Old spices. Spices had been traded for centuries, and many already appeared in the Finnish Bible of 1642. Cinnamon, caraway and mustard were now on the banned list. Cardamom was the only clear newcomer; its name had travelled from India by way of Greek and Latin Well documented.
• Pears or potatoes? In Finnish, peruna, potato, and päärynä, pear, are two forms of the same Swedish loanword, which goes back to Latin pirum, pear. Potatoes were grown in Finland from the 1730s, and the potato had been called an “earth pear”. When Mikael Agricola (stop 13) told the readers of his prayer book to eat healthy perunoita, he meant pears, which were hardly known in Finland then Well documented.
• Small comfort. To soften the blow, the decree assured readers how useful simple food, made without fancy art, was for their health Well documented.

The king’s experiment

• A royal test. King Gustav III is said to have ordered an experiment on two identical twins who had been sentenced to death. One had to drink three pots of coffee a day, the other three pots of tea Legend.
• A twist. According to the story, the two doctors in charge died first, and the king was murdered in 1792. The tea drinker died at 83 Legend.
• Probably not true. Historians doubt that the experiment ever took place, but it is a good story, and it is still told in Sweden and Finland Well documented.

Coffee culture today

• World champions. Finland drinks about 12 kilograms of coffee per person a year, more than any other country. Sweden, at about 8 kilograms, is not far behind Well documented.
• A sign of welcome. In Finland, offering coffee to a visitor is basic politeness, and it often comes with pulla, a sweet cardamom bun Well documented.