Gathering around a table for a cup of coffee has kept many Finnish workplaces and social occasions afloat. Offering a cup of coffee to a visitor is the minimum degree of hospitality: not offering coffee to a visitor or refusing a cup when offered can both be considered insulting gestures. The paper cup latte culture is slowly eroding the traditional institution, but in some workplaces a person might still be considered a weirdo if he drinks his coffee at his own desk. At the heart of Finnish coffee drinking is not the substance as a stimulant, but its symbolic significance as a combining agent and fuel for social life.

Finnish village culture was studied in the 1960s by Fredric M. Roberts, an American anthropologist, who noticed the importance of coffee drinking as a social institution. He could open up the social code to a new situation at the sight of the coffee pot. The coffee ceremony created a sense of security and formed a backbone to any occasion.

Indeed, the traditional Finnish coffee-drinking ritual could be compared with the Japanese tea ceremony in the sense that knowing the code, roles, and the correct conduct are essential to both. Traditionally, it has been the hostess' job to invite the guests to help themselves to coffee and the guests' job to offer mild initial resistance, remembering their place in the hierarchy.

Coffee has also had an equalizing effect. Before coffee became commonplace, a shot of liquor was the highlight of a party - and was served only to working-age men. However, once coffee arrived on the scene, it was served to all equally, including women and children.

Even at a Finnish outdoor event holding a cup of coffee is a symbol of "normal" status. In the other hand the typical Finn holds a grilled sausage, a sign of summer and fun. In the preparation of these staple foods, though, the separation of sexes is evident: women brew the coffee, while men grill the sausages.

The increasingly relaxed alcohol laws as well as our urbanization are slowly corroding our traditional coffee institution. You might even be served beer at a summer festival, and you can sip your morning java on the way to work. Still, every day every Finn drinks about ten cups of rather odd-tasting, light-roasted coffee - and at parties knows who helps him- or herself to the coffee first.