A Thriving Community: Steve Moloney Visits Helsinki - 25, Issue 12
Hello, reader! Welcome to the digital release of Issue 12. When we first started work on this issue all the way back in October 2019, we never would have imagined where we are now. As the situation has continued to evolve—global lockdowns shuttering the doors of our printer and postal routes as well as necessitating changes to how we prioritize spends as a nonprofit association in the middle of a pandemic—we’re not entirely sure if, or when, this issue will ever make it to print. (And, to be honest, having seen the final design: It’s more than a little heart-breaking! You would have loved it.)
We’re excited to release these features digitally for now, months in the making, to showcase the hard work of our authors. And we’d especially like to take this moment to thank the companies who supported this issue of 25: Pacific Foods, Bellwether Coffee, BWT Water + More, Cropster, Wilbur Curtis, iFinca, Pentair, and TONE Swiss.
I first visited Helsinki back in 2015 and it remains one of my absolute favorite cities to visit.
Sitting at the crossroads between Scandinavia and the Baltics, Helsinki has this wonderfully Finnish feeling about it while remaining accessible, vibrant, and dynamic. In the winter the temperatures drop low enough for the humidity in the air to freeze, making it look like the air is shimmering; in summer the parks are filled with Finns soaking up as much of the limited sunshine as they possibly can.
Finland is widely recognized as having one of the highest per capita coffee consumption rates on the planet and, since 1876, Paulig has been basically synonymous with coffee in Finland. The family-owned giant celebrated its 150-year anniversary by opening a flagship store in the location of the founder’s first little corner store, right in the center of Helsinki. The café comes replete with multiple single origin options, an in-house coffee roaster, and an impressive display of products, including their own Moomin-branded coffee blends.
But Helsinki’s coffee scene is by no means defined by a monolith—instead you will find a super dynamic and surprisingly young scene of people constantly opening new concepts and pop-up cafés. From Kalle Freese’s influential pop-up back in 2015—Freese Coffee Co— to the 2019 Decent Espresso pop-up café or Deadline Coffee, opened by 17-year-old Amos Brotherus, an up-and-coming Finnish actor during his final semester of high school, pop-ups are a Helsinki staple. More recently, this charge has been led by three-time Finnish Barista Champions and power couple Kaisa Kokkonen and Jarno Peräkylä, who together run the Sunday Espresso Club, Cappuzine podcast (the only Finnish language coffee podcast), and the hugely successful Helsinki Coffee Week festival. If you have been to an event in Helsinki in recent years, it is more than likely that these two had their hands in making it happen.
And of course, like any city, there are the classic cafés that form the bedrock of the specialty coffee community: Kaffa, Kahvila Sävy, Johan & Nyström, Helsingin Kahvipaahtimo (Helsinki Coffee Roastery), and the recently closed (and sorely missed) Good Life Coffee to name a few. You would be hard-pressed to find anyone in the coffee scene in Finland who hasn’t worked with at least one of these companies over the years. These have been reinforced by new additions to the scene, each offering its own unique take on the coffee experience: the plant-filled Andante, the minimalist Artisan, the cozy Papu, and the delicious brunch concept of Way Bakery and Wine (newly opened by the team behind Good Life Coffee).
But a visit to Helsinki isn’t just about its incredible coffee culture—I have frequently experienced some of the best food, cocktails, and wine of my life when visiting. There is the always fully booked BasBas wine bar with incredible natural wine and small meals, Michelin-starred restaurants like Grön, or the Noma-adjacent Inari. I had the chance to eat at Nolla, the city’s first-ever zero-waste restaurant, on my last visit and cannot recommend the experience highly enough. And no trip to Finland would be complete without a traditional sauna experience. My tip is to hit the beautifully designed Löyly for a smoke sauna and quick dip in the frozen ocean— one of the nicest ways to round out a great weekend in the coziest city in Europe. ◇
STEVEN MOLONEY is the founder of The Barista League and Ordna Event Agency.
Special Thanks to Our Issue 12 Advertisers
This issue of 25 is supported by Pacific Foods, Bellwether Coffee, BWT Water + More, Cropster, Wilbur Curtis, iFinca, Pentair, and TONE Swiss.