Food & Drink
Greenlandic Coffee: The Arctic cure for cold weather
Text by Chris Scott, video by Ed Scott-Clarke, CNN • Updated 9th February 2018
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Ilimanaq, Greenland (CNN) — Thought you knew what your favorite winter drink is? Wait until you try Greenlandic coffee.
Greenland's cold weather cure is like an Irish coffee, except more Irish!
And like everything in Greenlandic culture, this lovely mixture comes with a story that's just as delicious.
The recipe?
Hot coffee is mixed with whiskey, Kahlua and Grand Marnier then covered by an Arctic heap of whipped cream.
The drink is usually served after dinner along with a local legend or a tale about the Inuit people's closest thing to a deity -- the Mother of the Sea.
But the most common story about Greenlandic coffee is that it is "the whole of Greenland in one mug."
The whiskey is supposed to represent all the "rough" parts of the country: its men, its hunters, its fisherman and its rugged landscape.
The Kahlua, all the "nice" things about Greenland; its women, its beautiful scenery and its animals.
The men and the women then come together in the cold, dark polar nights, represented by the hot coffee. The whipped cream on top signifies the icebergs and glaciers the country is famous for.
The Grand Marnier is the finishing touch, set alight before being poured on top, the flames mimicking the Northern Lights.
The drink, like the country itself, is gorgeous at any time of the year.
Recipe:
1. Add 20ml (about half a shot) of whiskey to a mug.
2. Then 20ml Kahlua.
3. Pour in 300ml (10.5 fluid ounces) coffee
4. Add some whipped cream on top.
5. Pour 20ml of Grand Marnier, set on fire, over the whipped cream.
