The Union of Two Perfect Breakfast Products Could be Heaven or Disaster
The Union of Two Perfect Breakfast Products Could be Heaven or Disaster
Kaffe med Kaffeost in Jokkmokk
There are two universally perfect items on the breakfast menu: coffee and cheese. It is a shame they do not come together more often. Many of us have had coffee and cheesecake before, or covered a coffee-soaked biscotti with cheese from a tiramisu. But up in the cold forests of Lapland, people do not have time for cakes. They reinvented the whole relationship between caffeine and lactose.
Scandinavian countries are known for their appreciation of the beverage: consumption of coffee per capita here is among the highest in the world. This probably has to do with the fact that Scandinavia spends large part of the year submerged in the darkness of winter, and one has to try very hard not to give in to hibernation of all living things.
The Sámi are often called the last indigenous people of Europe. This is not strictly true, but long before the Vikings came to Scandinavia, the deer herders and fishermen of Lapland led a semi-nomadic life, moving the reindeer in winter and trading with neighboring countries and communities. Although today, ethnic Sámis have a settled life, they still keep the reindeer and, in some parts of the region, preserve traditional gatherings.
For the love of markets and cold weather, I found myself at Jokkmokk Winter Fair, an annual event that runs during the first week of February and attracts over 30,000 people to the town that normally houses no more than 3,000. It started in the 1600s and played a key role in the social and economic life of the peninsula and beyond. Historically, families would come here to sell fish and reindeer, buy crafts, seek entertainment, arrange marriages, and settle conflicts, making Jokkmokk into an intercultural crossroads beyond the Arctic Circle.
In the 21st century, the market is filled with both locals and tourists. You can buy silver jewelry and leather wristbands with traditional Sámi patterns, winter boots made from reindeer hides, knives with carved bone handles, knitted mittens, furry hats, wooden bowls, and silver spoons. But that February, it was 0°F, and kitchenware items no longer interested me that much. Instead, I set off on an adventure to find coffee with cheese.
I am neither a coffee snob nor a cheese connoisseur, but when a Swedish family first told me about kaffe med kaffeost, the Lapland special, I could not decide whether the union of two perfect breakfast products would be heaven or disaster.
Originally, the coffee cheese (also called kaffeost in Swedish/Norwegian, or leipäjuusto in Finnish) was produced from reindeer milk. It is unlikely to find reindeer cheese in mass production today, as goat or cow dairy is most often used instead.
Kaffeost preparation includes several complicated steps: first, cheese curds are cooked in a saucepan, then pressed—and sometimes baked in the oven—into a flat wheel of white cheese with a rather bland taste. Chopped in diamond-shaped pieces, leipäjuusto can be served as a side dish with coffee and cloudberry jam, or dropped right into the coffee mug before you pour the beverage. Cloudberries, which already have a heavenly ring to their name, are also known as “Arctic Gold” in the north of Scandinavia, where they can only be handpicked in early autumn.
Laid out in front of you on the table are three colors: milky white cheese, deep brown coffee, and golden orange cloudberry jam. Kaffeeost does not change the flavor of your drink. But the spongy texture of the cheese soaks up the liquid, and what you find at the bottom of your mug after drinking the coffee is brown bits of coffee-flavored goodness that squeak on your teeth, combined with the sweet-and-sour taste of homemade cloudberry jam. It is the taste of Lapland.