Local Drinks

1. kahvi

   Coffee

   Usage

   Finland is reckoned the world's heaviest coffee-drinking nation per head. The default is light-roast filter coffee, and there is a pot going in every workplace and home. In cafés it is ordered together with "pulla" or "korvapuusti". If a host asks "Otatko kahvia?", saying yes is the natural answer

   Grammar Note

   Ordering takes the partitive: "Kahvia, kiitos" (coffee, please) or "Saisinko kahvia" (could I have some coffee)

2. sima

   Sima — fermented lemon drink for May Day

   Usage

   ⚠ The drink of "vappu", 1 May. It descends from honey mead but the modern Finnish version is made with sugar and lemon and is usually all but non-alcoholic. It ferments in a few days to a week at home and is drunk with "tippaleipä" (funnel cake) and "munkki" (doughnuts)

3. glögi

   Glögi — hot spiced Christmas drink

   Usage

   The staple of December Christmas markets. ⚠ It comes both with and without alcohol — always check; the non-alcoholic kind is built on blackcurrant or other berry juice. Drunk with flaked almonds and raisins in the bottom of the cup. The Finnish counterpart of German Glühwein

4. lonkero

   Lonkero — gin and grapefruit long drink

   Usage

   A Finnish invention, sold in cans. Alko had Hartwall create the original Gin Long Drink for the 1952 Helsinki Olympics and it never went away. Cranberry, lime, orange and pineapple versions now exist too. Sold in supermarkets and kiosks

   Grammar Note

   ⚠ The primary sense of "lonkero" is "tentacle". In a drinks context there is no confusion, but point at the can when showing the word alone. Also written "long drink"

5. sahti

   Sahti — traditional unfiltered farmhouse ale

   Usage

   An unfiltered ale said to have been brewed for over 2,000 years: mostly barley malt with a little rye, wheat or oats, and flavoured with juniper branches or berries. Reddish-brown, sweet, cloudy, with almost no head or fizz, and strong — around 8% on average. ⚠ It is a fresh product that does not keep and is drunk soon after brewing. The heartland is Häme and northern Satakunta

6. kotikalja

   Kotikalja — home-brewed low-alcohol malt drink

   Usage

   A sweet, dark malt drink taken with food ("ruokajuoma"). ⚠ It is so weak that it does not count as an alcoholic drink. Served with traditional meals, especially at Christmas. ⚠ In colloquial speech "kalja" can also just mean beer, so say "olut" if beer is what you want

7. piimä

   Piimä — drinkable soured milk

   Usage

   Milk soured by lactic fermentation, or the liquid left from making cultured butter. Slightly thicker and sharper than milk. ⚠ It sits in the same aisle in the same kind of carton as milk, so it is easy to pick up by mistake — check the word "piimä" on the pack. Drunk with meals

   Grammar Note

   The spoonable, stretchy version is a different product called "viili" (see the dishes category)

8. keskiolut

   Medium-strength beer (2.9-4.7%)

   Usage

   A Finnish category for beer of 2.9-4.7% ABV; since it became available in grocery shops it has been the country's most-drunk alcoholic drink, mostly pale lager. ⚠ Since the law changed on 10 June 2024, grocery shops may sell fermented drinks up to 8.0% (spirit-based canned mixes are excluded). Anything stronger is sold only by Alko

9. siideri

   Cider — apple or pear

   Usage

   A light fruit wine from apples or pears, usually 3-10% ABV; what is sold in Finland tends to be sweet. ⚠ It is alcoholic by default — ask for "alkoholiton siideri" if you want the alcohol-free kind

   Grammar Note

   The partitive used when ordering is "siideriä" (Saisinko siideriä = could I have a cider)

10. mehu

    Mehu — diluted fruit or berry drink

    Usage

    ⚠ "mehu" is not 100% juice: a drink with added water or sugar is "mehu", while pure juice is "täysmehu". Unstrained juice is "nektari", and anything carbonated is "virvoitusjuoma" (soft drink), not "mehu". The traditional kind is cooked from berries at home in a steam juicer, a "mehumaija"

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