[But in Sweden, the coffee break has a special place in the culture.]

[It even comes with a special name: Fika]

(Speaking Swedish) Why is fika so important in Sweden?

It plays a very important social function.

You could say that it's like a social lubricant.

[Fika: Is this the secret to Swedish happiness?]

[Fika takes its name from the old Swedish word for coff: 'kafi'.]

[If you switch the sy;;ables around, it becomes 'fika'.]

[But how can you have a proper fika?]

- Hi. - Hello.

We would like to learn how to do a Swedish fika.

Great. You've come to the right place.

Well, let me start with the basics.

Do you want coffee or do you want tea?

Coffee?

I love coffee.

Yeah, coffee, please.

Well, we do normally drink a lot of coffee here in Sweden.

I think I'd like a cappuccino, please.

For pastries, what do you want then?

Like here we have our crown jewel of Swedish fika is the cinnamon bun or a princess cake.

Two cinnamon buns.

Let's share a slice of that.

Yeah, that would be great.

All right, great.

I'll bring it out to you.

Having a fika at the workplace makes it possible for you to relax and chill in a different way.

And that is necessary in order to have a good working environment.

[Many Swedish firms have mandatory fika breaks.]

[This allows the employyes to slow down and leave work behind.]

[Swedish workers are some of the least stressed worldwide.]

[Many view fika as a contributing factor happiness at work.]

All right, here's your coffee.

Thank you so much.

So, for a Swedish fika, let me start with how well do you guys actually know each other?

We actually just met at work today.

All right. Nice.

Well, I mean, then I would suggest to like maybe not start talk(ing) about like politics, religion. Try to keep it light.

So is it actually possible to whenever we want?

I mean, again, workplaces you usually have at 10 and then at three.

But if you're outside the work situation, you, you just, whenever you want, I think for sure that uh those relaxed moments when everyone just, you know, chill out a little bit and allow each other to talk about stuff that are work related, but also stuff that is not necessarily work related gives a spill over effect of, you know, creativity and maybe also, um, the opportunity to say stuff that you do maybe wouldn't allow yourself to say otherwise.

Some and I say on the, that the water.

Yeah.

So is it ok to decline a uh, no, no, no, no, you don't want to do that.

So what happens if I decline a FICA without a good reason?

We see a lot of new products.

Instead of having a cinnamon bun, you have like raw bars and bows, she puddings overnight oats fruit salads.

It brings in more variation at all.

Concept.

So, are we ready to start?

I mean, yeah, technically, but you need to know that like we, uh, we eat them in a, in a particular order.

So, um, I mean, most Swedes already know that.

Oh, what is the eating order then?

Because I actually just took a bite of the princess cake.

Oh.

Oh, no.

Well, we, we always start with the least Fancy Cookie and then we, we end with the most fancy cake.

OK.

So start with the cinnamon.

And then for next time I would start with the cinnamon bun and then I have small cookies cakes and then uh I'll end it up with a princess cake.

I would start with the cinnamon roll and go over to the small cookies.

And finally I have a piece of the princess cake.

I would probably have to go for the cake first and then work myself down to the smallest, uh, pastries.