Kaffeost (Bread Cheese in Coffee)

The northern Finnish and Swedish way to take cheese with coffee: squares of leipäjuusto, the baked, squeaky bread cheese, dropped into a cup, with hot coffee poured over. After a minute or two the cheese is soft and warm; drink the coffee, then eat the cheese with a spoon. The Finnish makers’ own records say the custom began because the cheese used to be dried hard for winter and had to be softened in something hot.

Untested: not yet made in this kitchen. It is here for the Kaffeost page.

Ingredients

• 40 to 60 g (1½ to 2 oz) leipäjuusto (bread cheese, juustoleipä), bought or home-made
• 1 cup (240 ml) hot, freshly brewed coffee, light or medium roast
• Sugar, optional

Directions

1. Cut the cheese into small squares or diamonds, about 2 cm (¾ inch) across.
2. Put 4 to 6 pieces in a cup, or a wooden kuksa if you have one, and pour the hot coffee over them.
3. Wait a minute or two, until the cheese is warm and soft and no longer squeaks. Drink the coffee, then eat the cheese with a spoon.

Notes

Where this comes from The Finnish protected-name applications for Kainuun juustoleipä and Pohjalainen leipäjuusto (Finnish Food Authority, 2024): pieces of cheese in the coffee cup, left to soften, eaten with a spoon; the custom came from softening cheese that had been dried. Sweden’s 2025 EU registration of Kaffeost: small pieces added to coffee and eaten when warm and soft. The coffee Finland drinks mostly light-roast filter coffee; the Swedish north often boils its coffee (kokkaffe). The amounts are this kitchen’s starting point. The old way Dried cheese, hard as wood, was softened in coffee the same way; it needs longer. Buying it Wisconsin bread cheese (Carr Valley, Brunkow, Pasture Pride) or Finnish leipäjuusto; or make it with the Leipäjuusto Cheese recipe. The photo Slices of bread cheese labelled “coffee cheese”, before going into the cup.