In Swedish, emphasis is on the f-fffeeekah. 'An illustrated lifestyle cookbook on the Swedish tradition of fika-a twice-daily coffee break-including recipes for traditional baked goods, information and anecdotes about Swedish coffee culture, and the roots and modern incarnations of this. Today, Sweden is one of the top coffee-consuming countries in the world, downing an average of 18 pounds of coffee per capita per year, per Mental Floss. Fika : the art of the Swedish coffee break, with recipes for pastries, breads, and other treats. Once the final ban ended in 1822, coffee consumption shot up. Other historians have hypothesized that the bans were motivated by the European trade crisis. The reason? Some point to the influence of Swedish botanist Carl Linnaeus, the physician to the admiralty, who considered it a threat to Swedish culture, deeming it a French “foreign custom” that was “infecting our people.” The word fika is an inverted form of “kaffi,” the 19th-century Swedish word for “coffee.” This shuffling of the syllables (and the removal of the other “f”) was to disguise the practice, since the very importation and consumption of coffee was banned five times between 17, reports the Local Sweden. The communal nature of these “scheduled pauses” is thought to foster stronger connections and feelings of a more equitable workplace, according to the BBC.
#FIKA THE ART OF SWEDISH COFFEE BREAK HOW TO#
At many workplaces in Sweden, these fika breaks, called fikarast or fikapaus, are even built into the daily calendar as an activity, reports Matthias Kamann in How to Be Swedish. Don’t like coffee, which is typically dark roast and unlimited during fika? Tea, soda, or any other drink will do.įika is a social affair: the best sort of coffee afternoon at home, where conversation rambles and there is no agenda, or a morning break with coworkers in an office. In the loosest possible sense, it typically refers to coffee consumption with a snack those snacks can be sweet (cardamom bun, cookie, chocolates) or savory (a small open-faced sandwich). Used as both a noun and a verb, fika is a Swedish institution. So what is it, exactly? Grab a cup of coffee, and let’s dive in.
fika? Yes, that fika is one of the most common Swedish words for travelers to know-right there after “hello” and “thank you”-will most likely be no surprise to anyone who is a fan of a coffee break (or two, or three).īut to call fika a mere “coffee break” is doing it a disservice.
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