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There are many ways to consume coffee. Some mix
it with chocolate, some put stones in it. Others drink it with
salt - or even put meat in it. And drinking coffee on a saucer
was once very common, until it suddenly was considered bad manners.
The
indigenous people of northern Sweden, the Lapps, started to
drink coffee in the late 19th century, as a complement to their
traditional deer-clear soup. Often they add cow or goat milk,
dried deer milk and cheese - and sometimes even smoked or dried
deer meat - to their coffee. Many times the fat from the bottom
of the deer are carved in thin slices and put in a cup and covered
with coffee. In older days the Lapps did the same thing with
deer intestines. Further east, other indigenous people boil
meat of sheep or deer together with coffee or tea. The Lapps
also have an old trick to make coffee without a pot. They fold
birch bark into a cone in which they pour water and grind coffee.
By putting a heated stone into the brew, they get the coffee
even hotter. While drinking they add small hot stones to keep
the coffee warm.
In
many cultures salt is added to the coffee. A passenger on a
domestic flight in Guatemala gets a small package of salt with
the coffee. Salt also helps the body retain water and therefore
the armed forces in some countries have worked on adding salt
in coffee to help the soldiers endure cold weather.
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