Tastes of Iceland: typical drinks

Posted on April 23, 2009 by cinzia

Topas

All the Icelandic drinks have one goal: they must transmit heat. For this reason, drinks are usually served very hot or have a high alcoholic content.

• Kaffi: a very long coffee
• Solarkaffi: Cumin flavoured coffee; it’s usually drank at dawn during springtime, to celebrate the return of light.
• Egils Malt Extrakt: drink similar to dark beer, it’s sweet and can be classified as a soft drink
• Jólaöl: it is a Christmas distillate; it is made by mixing orange juice and mal extract.
• Brennívin: the literal translation is “burning wine”; it is a potato distillate flavoured with cumin; it is considered the national liquor of Iceland, and it is also well known as svarti dauði- i.e the black death!
• Topas: it’s a liquor made out of herbs and liquorice;
• Beers: the Icelandic beers are light; the most common are Egils, Thule and Viking