(Really) COFFEE LOVERS

POSTCARDS FROM REYKJAVÍK

Article published in UNA Magazine - World Wide Friends (http://wf.is/news/)

Disponible en català a Núvol: http://www.nuvol.com/noticies/amor-i-cafeina-a-reykjavik/

Mokka Café in Reykjavík - Fotografia: Eugènia Güell Barnils

How the coffee espresso got to Iceland is a really nice love story. “The first espresso machine in Iceland is now in my bedroom, as a decoration” says Gudny. “My grandparents fell in love in Italy 62 years ago” she says. She stops explaining because someone has ordered a coffee and she has to make it. It’s 11 AM, and Mokka, the oldest café espresso in Reykjavík, is full of people. It’s a small place in downtown, a bit narrow but cosy, and it looks exactly the same as 1958, when Gudny’s grandparents started it up. “My grandfather went to study opera-singing in Italy, and he supported himself by being a tour guide. My grandmother went to Italy with a friend, and they went in one of his tours, and they just fell in love.” She smiles and looks at the wall, where there’s an old photo of them. They learnt the Italian coffee culture, they bought an espresso machine, and when they came back to Iceland, they started running Mokka.

“People didn’t know what all of this was about. I mean, they didn’t have the coffee culture, they didn’t know that they were paying just for one cup made with the espresso machine, no refilling as at home”, says Oddny. Oddny is one of the daughters of the founders, and like everyone in the family, she is also working in Mokka. Actually, she now runs it. “They had to teach Icelanders because they weren’t used to the coffee culture. At first, they were afraid because it was something absolutely new here, but then everybody liked it, so here we are.” Gudny recalls her grandmother explaining that at first, some drunk people went to Mokka because bars closed earlier. “My grandfather was such a child guy, and to kick them out, he would come over and say: <hey, how are you doing buddy? > And just start talking to them and slowly walking them out” says Gudny, standing up and imitating him. “And then he would say: <it was really good to see you, bye! > And the struggler was out. He knew everybody, he was really kind.” Her grandfather passed away eight years ago, but her grandmother still lives next door and almost every morning goes to Mokka. “She is proud now” says Oddny. “This is what she and my father did, so it’s nice now just to walk down the stairs and see all of this.” Reykjavík has now a lot of tourist shops, and Gudny says that now it is changing a lot. “I am cool with tourists, but it is the tourist industry… Icelandic entrepreneurs are very opportunistic and when something is popular for tourists, everybody is dong it. So there are lots of hotels and all the old shops are closing down… the prices have gone up so high and it’s so difficult to live here.”

Gudny at Mokka - Fotografia: Eugènia Güell Barnils

But what is impressive about Mokka is that it hasn’t changed at all, except for the colour of the carpet and the upholstery of the chairs. Some of the old cups are broken, but the new ones look the same. Besides, Mokka has always been a cultural place. Some artists went there to paint while having some coffee, and from the beginning there would be Arts exhibits. “Every five or six weeks we prepare a new exhibition, and the atmosphere changes, so it’s fun and very nice” says Oddny. “Nowadays Iceland has changed a lot, but we stay the same, we don’t change. We are Mokka, and we will continue like this.” So the oldest café in Iceland still resists. And its owner and founder, now almost 90 years old, still sits there almost everyday. “Coming here keeps here alive, and young.” Does she still drink coffee? “Of course! Espresso, everyday.” You are all coffee lovers, right? “Absolutely!” And with this love story behind, more than ever.