Drinking

It's time for a cup of coffee. Finns drink coffee anywhere and everywhere. More coffee per person is drunk in Finland than anywhere else in the world.

Finns consume the equivalent of slightly over ten litres of pure alcohol per person per year, which is close to the European average. Drinking habits mainly follow Scandinavian and European practices. There are fewer national characteristics than one might think, considering that Finns do have a reputation for drinking; and indeed binge drinking is fairly common, as it is throughout northern Europe and parts of the UK.

However, consumption of wine and beer, as opposed to spirits, has increased in recent years, and as a result more decorous drinking behaviour has become more common. Consumption of alcohol at lunchtime is less common in the business world than it used to be, and in the public sector it is extremely rare.

Alcohol consumption varies somewhat, according to socio-economic differences and, to some extent, by region. The influence of central European or Mediterranean drinking habits is primarily visible among urban middle class young adults and slightly older Finns with tertiary education.

The import and sale of wines and other alcoholic beverages is largely controlled by the state-owned Alko organisation, and private individuals can only buy alcoholic beverages in Alko shops, with the exception of medium strength beer and cider, which can be bought in food stores. Alko is a major buyer of wines and stocks a wide and geographically representative selection of all qualities, including top labels. Many restaurants import their own wines directly from suppliers abroad.

In households wine is normally reserved for weekend meals, but meals prepared for guests or eaten in a restaurant usually involve wine. Often - and in the case of Swedish-speaking Finns, almost always - a meal is preceded by schnapps, a shot of vodka or aquavit in a tiny glass. This is considered an integral part of cold fish courses, and absolutely essential with crayfish. Swedish-speaking Finns have a custom of enlivening the occasion with a line or two of a drinking song before each shot of schnapps. Big dinner parties have an appointed toastmaster who determines the interval between shots and leads the singing. Finnish-speaking Finns have a less elaborate and less structured drinking etiquette, although there are schnapps songs in Finnish too. Schnapps is usually accompanied by mineral water, or sometimes beer, which is also commonly served with meals. Beer is also used to slake the thirst created by the sauna.

Visitors can approach Finnish drinking customs as they see fit. It is not necessary to drink a shot of schnapps in one gulp even if your neighbour does. So it is enough to raise the glass to one's lips without swallowing. It is also perfectly acceptable to request mineral water or non-alcoholic wine with a meal. Lunch is usually accompanied by non-alcoholic beverages in any case, and non-alcoholic drinks are usually provided. Abstinence is also supported by legislation; in Finland, the blood alcohol level for drunken driving is very low, and the penalties are severe.

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