Guest post by Katja Presnal
Just like Jill, I love coffee. In fact so much that when I started planning my first magazine issue, I wanted to dedicate it entirely for coffee. The health benefits of coffee, the best coffee shops our editorial team has found around the world, the beauty products with coffee, the ways people drink coffee in different cultures… oh yes, I wanted to dedicate one entire magazine for everything coffee. My team resisted though, and asked “what about the tea drinkers,” and so I decided the first issue’s theme would be “coffee, tea or me.” The magazine is out now, and you can also read stories of finding tea in Asia, and how to have the proper English afternoon tea.
I hope you will have a cup of the beverage of your choice and enjoy our magazine, but I hope you will enjoy your coffee the Scandinavian way.
See, coffee culture is different in every region in the world. In the US we are so used to getting a big cup of coffee on-the-go and sipping it as we drive our cars, pick up kids from school or even during shopping. The Venti Latte at Starbucks is quite ridiculous in the size, and if you have it flavoured, it pretty much is your (unhealthy) meal as far as the calories go. In Italy, on the other hand, the big milk-filled cafe lattes and cappucinos are only part of breakfast, and most coffee shops don’t sell coffee in the to-go cups, like they don’t in most of Europe, unless you happen to see a Starbucks. Italians drink a lot of coffee, but it’s a mini-sized espresso, and the coffee shops don’t even always have tables, just a bar, and people get their espresso, they drink it fast while it’s still hot, and they move on.
My favorite coffee drink is a good cappucino, or a cafe latte, but I don’t like drinking it just on the breakfast time, but more like how the Scandinavians drink coffee. Twice a day, Scandinavians take a coffee break, in fact it is a law at least in Sweden and Finland, that every employer has to give a coffee break for each employee twice a day. It’s never a quick refill at the break room and taking the coffee and drinking it at your desk, but it is an actual break. You stop working, you have coffee, and you take a moment to yourself or to connect with others and talk about something else than work. It’s not just the coffee that perks your mind up, it’s the interaction, taking time off, and letting yourself to truly take a break.
So today, I would like to invite you to take a real break from your day, have a cup of coffee (or tea, if you prefer) and browse through our first issue of Skimbaco Lifestyle magazine. Let us take you around the world, and discover more about coffee, tea and how people are living life to the fullest.
