K ~ Kaffe Kopp

Hejsan klass!

Before we begin today's lesson, I have a few announcements.

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Alrighty then, let's get to today's lesson. Today you will learn two new words because they are practically inseparable: kaffe kopp.

Pronounication:

kaffe: cuff + eh?

Kopp: cup

Have you guessed the meaning? Coffe cup. Swedes like their coffee. They like it hot, dark, strong, and several times a day. Drinking coffee is a major social event, and it's a frequent one.

Of course there's coffee for breakfast. Then in midmorning, there's another cup. If someone has “stopped by”, that midmorning cup is served with some sweets that the hostess “happens” to have on hand. Coffee is consumed with lunch. Mid afternoon, an unarranged coffee visit might occur again, and the ritual is repeated. Yes, Swedish hostesses need to be ready for visitors on a moments notice. With lots of sweets.

After dinner, there's more coffee, and in most of the households where I've stayed, there's later the “evening food” which is a before bed snack. As I recall, we are by now done with coffee, and tea is served with this food.

Please keep in mind that a lot of these memories are from when I was nine, and the freshest are from my teenage years. I know Farmor and Farfar were so happy to have us visit that they wanted us to visit all their friends. This made for two-a-day coffee parties for teenage girls who would rather have gone on a boat ride, or downtown to shop, or even for a walk in the nearby woods.

We were dutiful granddaughters though, and went to all of these parties. I don't know if the other women of my Farmor's generation had as much china as she did, but here's a selection of kaffe koppar (plural) from the sets I inherited.  

This one is called Grandmother's Rose, and I have the entire set, this is just the serving pieces.  I have them in a china cabinet on display, but with the light coming in my patio window, you couldn't see them at all, so I pulled these out so you could see them.  These were my favorite since childhood.  

These blue cups and saucers are part of another set that includes creamer and sugar and serving plates.  

These flowers are called "Vildkaprifol" and are the official flower of the county "Bohuslän".  I have 12.  

This kopp is from another set of county flowers.  It's ljung (name of flower) and from the county of Västergötland.  I have 8.  

This last kopp is another company's version of the kaprifol from county Bohuslän.  If you compare the two, you'll notice similarities, and differences.

This is not all the china Farmor collected.  Remember the matching clothes?  At least with the china, she didn't repeat.  My sister has just as much as I do, but in different patterns.  My brother didn't get china, but he got most of her antique furniture as I recall.  All's fair.  Wanna come over for kaffe?  I have lots of koppar.