Fresh Cup Magazine, providing specialty coffee and tea professionals with unique insight into the trends, ideas, products and people that shape their world.
Issue link: http://freshcup.epubxp.com/i/66983
ODDNY GUDMUNDSDOTTIR (Oddny co-manages it with her sister Sesselja.) And although Gudny is semi-retired, she still comes into Mokka almost every day for a cup of coffee. The carpets have been changed to keep up with foot traffic, and some booths were re- surfaced in the 1960s. Other than that, Gudny has been seeing the same shop for 54 years. Mokka is not a big place. The wood-paneled walls and ceilings frame a small area that seats a stated maximum capacity of 42 guests, but that number sounds a little high—a little too elbow- to-elbow for a lazy afternoon. It gets busy, but traffic is brisk with carryout orders and hurried lunch hours. The weekends see the heaviest traffic, with customers who tend to stay longer. The most popular items on the menu are coffee, hot chocolate and waffles, served with light, fluffy cream and strawberry jam. Old-school rules are the norm at Mokka, and that extends to two important features: the drinks and the furniture. Gudmundur insisted that all drinks would remain true to the Italian classics he enjoyed there—coffee, espresso and cappuc- cino, with no drizzles or syrups. "We don't cater to the fashions of the day," Oddny says. "We stick to the standards—plain, good coffee drinks … the Italian way." As far as the no-frills furniture goes, there's a story there too. Friend of the family Jon Gunnar Arnason designed and forged the iron castings of Mokka's tables and chairs. Later in his career, Arnason would sculpt Solfar, or The Sun Voyager, located on Reykjavik's north waterfront—Iceland's most visited art piece. Although present-day Mokka looks like the model of mini- malist Icelandic efficiency, the early days could be a bit hectic. Considering this was the only espresso machine in Iceland for a time, it was truly an emergency if it were to break down; shipping espresso machine parts from Italy to Iceland in the 1950s was not an overnight option. Gudmundur and Gudny kept a stash of basic spare parts in the shop and kept their fingers crossed. Of course the couple proved to be forward thinkers, as espresso machines eventually became commonplace everywhere—includ- ing Iceland. "Now everyone is familiar with espresso, cappuccinos or lattes, and many own quite sophisticated espresso machines at home," Oddny says. "When Mokka opened in 1958 and introduced continued on page 62 Fresh Cup Magazine 61