A cuppa might be the construct of life pretty much everywhere but specifically in some countries where it is the kindles of culture itself upon which brews pots of caffeine, the comfort scouted in countless such pours of coffee happens to wash over indeed the undulating heaves of the soul. Seldom is the effect of coffee mellow enough to not stir the innermost confines of the human and when the elucidation of such essence expresses in as much eloquence of the language, this experience of the caffeinating is one occurring in even elevated an emotioning of euphoria.
Which is why we indulged in our favorite exercise of scrounging the impeccably incredible dictionary of Scandinavian speaking to seek for the senses such speech of soothing sensation that fares as well as the very fame steaming out of numerous love affairs steeped in the sublime aromas of coffee. For coffeeing is a way of life indeed and one that enthuses every essence across which existences masquerade in their human identity. As drips for the body in which drenches the soul, every single serving of coffee endows our species with an energy occurring in characteristics of subsistence itself.
What we came across in this treasure hunt of what affords a luxury in elocuting the innermost desires of the heart and the soul is the unfolding of a very common narrative. In fact so rampant in its scouting by many a parched souls of the world is this necessity of what still has an inherently ‘scandalous’ notion to its seeking that it is with equal parts relief as well in which we received this symphony in sounding as a smooth Swedish speak- one asserting in the special ordinariness of its mention as påtår.
Translating as the very ordinary meaning of ‘refill’, påtår is a very integral identity in the extent of Swedish existence. That, because coffee is a constituent element of the very existences summing up this identity of the national. Striking as a contrast in starkness against the bitter actually brewing of the joe in this realm of reference during its coursing through history when coffee was banned at least as many as five significant times is this country of copious glugging character. So ‘determinedly’ drunk on this desire in seeking seconds or even thirds and fourths and infinities of serving is this nation accounted for by Scandinavian as well as Nordic descriptions that had it devise a definite word to denote this demand in daily doses of an undeniable compulsive seeking.
Exclusive as well is this term of specific reference, so much so that despite its literal translation occurring as a general implying of the refilling idea, påtår is extensively used in context of the coffee craze. This particularity in prevailing might seem to be peculiar but consider as well the definite need one feels for endless cups of the drink on certain days and the Swedes’ obsession with having a whole term cater to that singular calling for caffeine seems to be not so surprising.
And so there you have it, a definite something waiting on you, to attend to that urge in going on sipping on one cuppa after the other, as an overpowering addiction that speaks to you only in such pleas and persuasions of which you cannot refuse. Only if the asking for seconds and possibly recurring such counts of refilling would not have borne the threat of mild embarrassment and the ‘elixir of life’ would not project itself in that high position of being off limits indeed!
Envying the luxury that the Swedes have at their disposal, in this manner of bearing access to as many cups of joe as they fancy without the prospect of being stared at by eyes wide open then is the proposition in which we discover the dooms of our existence. Not those availing for themselves all charms of the Swedish identity, where påtår is as ingrained a manner of their cultural existence as fika.
For those unaware as well of this pleasing consonance in existence, fika is another Swedish tradition established by and in turn establishing their essence upon the charms spewed by coffee. Asserting as a tradition ingrained in the continuing of their being and flowing in character of artistic envisioning, fika sums up quite simply the coffee break that occurs as customary episodes of experiencing the world over. And yet, within the scintillating scape of what curates the geographical gist of Sweden and emerging upon in fact the cultural continuum of it, fiks is more indulgent a ritual one willingly partakes of.
Fika of the strictly yet liberally understood connotation in Swedish alluding is a recipe instead in rejuvenating- something the entire Scandinavian classification essentially entertains and explores and ascertains. As a break from the daily schedule of work that you seek out just to pause, with of course a refreshing cuppa to court succour in, fika encapsulates once again as well the indispensable identity that coffee assumes within this sphere of its indulgence. The term itself is derived from the Swedish way of saying coffee as kaffe and represents therefore in such sense of its soulfulness the satisfaction steaming up every serving of this potion.
Syncing then with the narrative of fika is the nomenclature of påtår that is not any rarity all along the trails of its territory. Emptying your first cup need not be reason for anxiety to lurk in the coffee dregs that signify an end to the sips upon its rim. What you can call for instead, in complete assertion of authority over coffee of course and not to the cafe people indeed, is a loud and clear sounding of ‘en påtår’, as lending yourself to a legacy prevailing in certainty since at least the year of 1842. Usually free of charge is this second helping you entitle yourself to, though sometimes amounted in monetary terms as well, påtår can be followed by as unbothered calls for a tretår or a further krusetår or an even aggressive opting for pintår, if that is what suits your body and soul by now fully running on the stimulus of coffee.
Each of these terms though asserts in dramatic, rather amusing articulation of what does not quite screams coffee in true evocation of the cries for it. Påtår derives upon kaffetår, which was an 1800s alluding to simply a cup of coffee. Interestingly though, the composite tår part of this word means a tear which of course is represented in the universal shape of a drop. This drop or sip upon a coffee cup would obviously need to be magnified given the typical Swedish proclivity in devouring the drink. And thus has påtår come to mean a coffee refill, overriding all other possibilities of variety and even the accuracies of measure to stem as that word one should be grateful indeed for existing.
The more obvious call of tretår as a third cuppa is ironically out of place in it not bearing metaphors of intention. That in contrast indeed of the fact that it asserts as the most logical in language intentions of delivering exactly what it claims to be. But the figures of speech continue to curate also the narrative of the krusetår and the pintår, with the former drawn from the ‘swaying’ effect produced by too much caffeine and the other even aggravated consumption of the fifth cup articulated in such jarring narratives of what tends to misery!
Imagine coffee to be harbouring of such power that brings upon it such disfame that is universally purported to be desirable instead- typical indeed a case in conveying its intoxicated identity of indulgence. And yet it continues to be prominent in pervading the entire sphere of our existence, as we go back for seconds and thirds and more, sometimes hesitantly, otherwise more assertively as per our knowledge of the påtårs and the tretårs and the like.
