Mokka Kaffi

This guide to Mokka Kaffi in Reykjavik follows a young Icelander named Guðmundur Baldvinsson, who came home from studying art in Italy in 1958 and opened a small café on Skólavörðustígur with his wife, Guðný Guðjónsdóttir, installing the country's first espresso machine. You'll hear how a city used to drip coffee at home was slow to warm to it, and how a handful of artists and writers with nowhere else to gather kept the place going through the dark months. It traces how that early habit shaped the café's walls, which still rotate with local art every few weeks. Look closely at what's hanging when you visit; it changes more often than you'd expect.