Short answer
Fika is the Swedish break for coffee and something sweet. The word comes from kaffi, an older form of the Swedish word for coffee, with the syllables swapped. If you want to pair Swedish chocolate with your coffee, a few easy tips: mild Marabou milk chocolate with filter coffee, sweet and crunchy Daim or Toblerone with a bitter espresso, hazelnut-filled Geisha with a latte, and Marabou Mintkrokant or Apelsinkrokant with tea. These are taste tips, not rules. Cinnamon Bun Day is celebrated every year on 4 October.
What is fika?
Fika is the Swedish coffee break: a cup of coffee, something sweet and preferably some company. It is both a noun and a verb. You can have a fika, or you can simply fika. According to Visit Sweden, fika is a cornerstone of daily life in Sweden, and many workplaces build two fika breaks into the day, one mid-morning and one in the afternoon.
The word has a playful history. It was formed from kaffi, an older variant of the Swedish word for coffee, with the syllables swapped around: kaf-fi became fi-ka. According to Stockholmskällan, the City of Stockholm's online history resource, the word seems to have been in use since the 1910s.
Swedes drink a lot of coffee, too. According to Svensk Kaffeinformation, Swedes drink 3.2 cups a day on average. Only the Finns drink more.
Cinnamon Bun Day, 4 October
The cinnamon bun is the best-known fika pastry, and it has its own day. Kanelbullens dag, Cinnamon Bun Day, was created in 1999 by Hembakningsrådet, the Swedish home baking council, to celebrate the tradition of baking at home. The date, 4 October, was chosen so that the day would fall in autumn without clashing with other traditions. Since 2004 it has been in the Swedish calendar, and every year on 4 October cafés, workplaces and homes all over the country serve cinnamon buns.
But fika doesn't have to mean buns. A piece of chocolate with your coffee is just as Swedish, and that is where the matching begins.
The fika match: chocolate and coffee
The idea is simple: sweet, creamy chocolate balances a bitter coffee, and a soft, milky coffee can take a chocolate with more crunch and nuts. Here are our suggestions. Think of them as tips from the candy shelf, not science.
| With | Try | Why it works |
|---|---|---|
| Filter coffee | Marabou milk chocolate | Mild and creamy against plain black coffee. The classic |
| Filter coffee | Kexchoklad | Wafer and chocolate, easy to break and perfect for a packed lunch |
| Espresso | Daim | Crunchy almond caramel softens the bitterness |
| Espresso | Toblerone | Honey and almond nougat add sweetness and bite |
| Latte or cappuccino | Geisha | The hazelnut filling turns it into a hazelnut latte |
| Latte or cappuccino | Japp | Soft caramel and chewy chocolate meringue for a milky coffee |
| Black tea | Marabou Mintkrokant | Mint and tea usually go well together |
| Tea with citrus | Marabou Apelsinkrokant | The orange lifts the tea |
| Evening coffee | Plopp or Center | Small pieces with a caramel filling, easy to share |
The chocolates in brief
- Marabou comes in many flavours. Besides milk chocolate there are Schweizernöt, Apelsinkrokant (orange crisp), Mintkrokant (mint crisp) and a bar with Daim, among others.
- Daim is crunchy almond caramel covered in milk chocolate.
- Japp is, in Marabou's words, milk chocolate with soft caramel and chewy chocolate meringue.
- Kexchoklad is a wafer covered in chocolate.
- Plopp and Center are two different chocolates with a caramel filling. Many Swedes have a favourite and will defend it.
- Geisha comes from the Finnish company Fazer: milk chocolate with a hazelnut filling, made since 1962.
- Toblerone is Swiss and was created in Bern in 1908. The name blends Tobler with torrone, Italian for honey and almond nougat.
To learn more about the classics, read our guide to Swedish chocolate.
How to find your own match
- Start with the coffee. The more bitter the coffee, the sweeter the chocolate that tends to suit it.
- Think about the milk. A latte or cappuccino can handle nuts, caramel and crunch.
- Break off small pieces. That way you can test three matches with one cup.
- Hold a tasting. Put out four kinds, one cup each, and let everyone vote. It is fika and a game at the same time.
- Don't forget tea. Mint and orange are safe bets with a cup of tea.
Fika chocolate from Kungsgatan
You will have to sort out the coffee yourself, but the chocolate is waiting at Kungs Gotter, Kungsgatan 26, on the pedestrian street in central Gothenburg. We are open every day and have Marabou, Kexchoklad, Daim, Japp, Plopp, Geisha, Center and Toblerone on the shelves, next to our wall of pick-and-mix. Having fika at home? You can order chocolate via Wolt. And for the rest of the candy, read our guide to Swedish candy.