Icelandic Superstitions: For Whom The Bean Tolls

When you can’t rely on the sun to tell you when to wake up, coffee becomes a necessity. But, according to Icelandic lore, your latté can determine how the rest of your future plays out.

Get roasted

It was said by the old Icelanders that drinking hot coffee would make you uglier, while drinking it chilly supposedly made you prettier. This, of course, feels like a marketing ploy by the iced coffee lobby, but we can’t legally confirm any coffeeruption was involved.

It’s also essential to put in sugar before cream or you will not get married for the next seven years. As well, if you happen to find two spoons in your cup, you could be expecting twins in the next year, secretly engaged or just invited to a party. A mismatched cup and saucer indicates that you’ll get married twice, or have an affair.

“Pray that your coffee has bubbles in it. If you sip them, that means you’ll get super rich.”

The best situation? Pray that your coffee has bubbles in it. Sipping them means you’ll get super rich.

Ground-hog day

It’s also what’s inside the cup that matters.

“Tasseography” is a form of divination that interprets patterns in tea leaves, wine sediments or coffee grounds. While tea-reading never gained much popularity in Iceland—potentially due to accessibility—coffee clairvoyance was all the rage. But given that a lot of Icelandic superstitions, particularly coffee-cup readings, tended to predetermine someone’s death or other bad news, the practice has since fallen out of fashion.

The Grapevine’s witchcraft department couldn’t find any Iceland-specific coffee ground omens—curiously, they’ve all disappeared from the internet—but they did determine that if you see a vegvísir in the bottom of your mug, you’re probably a basic bitch.

So, enjoy your déjà brew. And regardless of whatever omens you find, be nice to your waiter.

Check out more Icelandic Superstitions here.

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