Fika is a concept in Sweden for a coffee break. And that in America has gotten smaller as coffee is all-day brewing.
This was a cappuccino Fika moment ☕️ I enjoyed in Gothenburg, Sweden.
Fika has grown to mean so much more about life.
Especially post-2020.
Those humbling, bittersweet years wherever you were on the planet grew you no matter what age you were.
We can now all look back…
To then when you got more you-experiences discovering more about yourself with change of routines… and as you interrupted your usual patterns.
And in more recent years, you found your groove back and learned tips for healthy balanced living.
You and I can appreciate what we have better, today.
You can now live the 80/20 real life vs. digital world that we dreamed of and no longer in Zoom fatigue settlement.
But those growing years gave us new insight. You don’t wanna lose all the good you developed from 2020.
And you can lean into a couple Fika points reminders:
-still slow down and make time to take a daily break (you can use you won’t get this day back as a self-reminder). Slowing down allows for new ideas to break through from the space break opportunity you carve out.
-appreciate daily simple joys and small happy pleasures (…maybe sweets 🍥?), healthy snacks and beverages.
Ok, one more…
– maintain some quiet time that can include reading, journaling, yoga, meditation, or enjoying sitting still with a cup of coffee and your soul. And if you dare, listen to your spirit.
This gets us away from love and into the noisy gong and clanging cymbal of the world that’s full of fear.
Silence is where you can hear the love whispers that’s inside each of us.
And then breaking out of silence or Fika moments, you want to immerse yourself in life to appreciate life.
You may have remembered not too long ago when an employee usually older than you said they were going on a coffee break and then disappeared.
That idea disappeared…
And so did the idea of driving out of your way to find a pot of coffee in America. It was helpful not to be a coffee drinker as you’d be in a diner or a 7-11. Coffee was more a morning ritual only.
These days coffee counters are everywhere in any metro suburban area, so people have re-appeared and coffee culture is running all day.
…Sometimes we even spend all day at a coffee shop balancing real life and our devices that we’re on. The digital nomad is not a new concept and finding fika is a way of living.
Years before I took on this lifestyle, I was getting inspired sitting and people watching where some of the famous writers like Ernest Hemingway and Jean-Paul Satre sat in a famous cafe.
That was doing fika compared to people hovering over a coffee machine that has replaced the office water cooler.
These days in America, everyone is armed with their own water-filled water bottles.
And then back at home…
Making coffee is a Fika opportunity to slow down and feel joy breaks.
Since modern research shows coffee as anti-inflammatory, it’s aligned with mind-body connection happy and healthy… that’s naturally in the coffee caffeine.
Coffee caffeine is especially a healthy energy alternative to caffeinated sodas that have too much unhealthy sugar.
But I think it’s good to get the sugar hype out of the system when you’re younger when your body isn’t so critical about what you consume…
Sodas was my breakfast starting out journey… that was later replaced with morning coffee and writing that aligned hand-in-hand with blogging. 📝
…And I’m sure you have your own beverage journey that aligned with your growing ways.
My daily routine is cold brew as less harsh/lower acidity and less bitter if that matters to you and your body. Cold brew vs. iced coffee are not the same thing.
It takes about as much effort to make a. cup of cold brew (as using a coffee machine), so maybe that’s something to consider. 💭
You can easily learn how to make a perfect cold brew coffee you’ll enjoy!… that’s even your younger inner child could have made years ago (but maybe stayed away from bitter). 😀
…Or maybe that could have been a similar story line in your green tea journey where you didn’t start off liking the bitter leaves.
…and now can tolerate (or prefer with your 180 degree changes as you change… or since your tea was better prepared in the lower 180 degree water temp 😀).
Which btw if tea is your jam, a tea break or afternoon tea is another Fika way to slow down. It’s not all about coffee anymore.
And maybe it’s plain water or healthy water drinks or you’re looking for new inspo for a few anti-inflammatory, healthy dry January drink, or tea ideas.
These can all be part of the Fika in the afternoon.
In America, we call this an afternoon snack break where America is home of the snacks. 🇺🇸 You can go into any size grocery store and see aisles full.
And you can healthy challenge yourself to make home healthy snacks to also slow down and relax.
Relaxed, you get to change your rhythm and feel the happy effects that lead to an overall productive day or Part 2 of your day.
Some light sweet or savory snacks for your Fika could be all you need to keep going in the right direction for your day:
Some ideas: try a one-bowl low-sugar chocolate chip oatmeal cookie that’ll do the sweet satiating trick over cravings. Or a healthier cinnamon roll or a buckwheat ginger snap cookie. Buckwheat is gluten-free, btw.
And maybe Fika tea party?… with the best way to make chai that you can pair with no-bake chai balls. Leave the cooking and baking for another time.
You can add Swedish-inspired savory Fika smorgas (open faced sandwiches).
You can make a healthy microgreen einkorn sandwich bread platter version mixing the growing microgreen culture (that I barely remember grew outta the alfalfa sprouts craze 🌱).
In catering, we called these finger sandwiches on a platter that always were a hit. The crusts were cut off.
And for similar effects, you can also leave the sandwiches open (smorgas) for less bread ratio.
Smorgas is different than a smorgasboard. That means sandwich table.
…Which wich is not just one sandwich!
Smorgasbord today as we know is a buffet (table) in American culture.
That’s the more-is-more approach.
With Fika, you can master the art of enjoyment that leads to contentment, and appreciate less-is-more with a light and balanced table.
Blend this with coffee culture and tea blends, and you have a daily reason to celebrate… and be grateful for the simple things that happened (and the bad ones that didn’t).
And simply appreciate this moment. ⏳
