Get your Fika on.

Sweden is good at most things (looking at you meatballs and ABBA) and it turns out they’ve perfected cafes too. Fika roughly translates as coffee and cake. But really it’s SO much more than that. It’s a moment of self-care during the day to smash through a cinnamon roll… or seven.

Not convinced? The Volvo factory stops work for fika AND it’s written into some Swede’s contracts*. We’ve teamed up with Visit Sweden to take a deep dive into Stockholm’s cafe culture and bringing you the best spots for a fika fix…

*Sends email to boss with subject line: URGENT we need to talk about my fika rights.

Ready for some Harold Houdini shiz? The word fika comes from the old spelling for coffee - kaffi - but flipped around.

MIND. BLOWN.

Nowadays peak fika (or pika if you will… probs won’t catch on) is an artisan roasted coffee teamed with a homemade kanelbulle (cinnamon roll). The average Swede will eat 316 of these twisty knots of sugary sweet dough a year…

You’ve found your people.

There’s even an officially Cinnamon Bun Day. It’s Oct 4th, which means you’ve got an entire year to prepare. Caffeinated bevs might’ve been kicking around since the 18th century, but these days Swedes focus on robust, complex flavours and sustainably sourced beans. So you can feel good drinking it.

Vete-Katten

Vete-Katten means ‘wheat cat’, but don’t be alarmed no felines were harmed in the making of these buns.

Founded in 1928 this is one of the OGs of the fika scene - like the Ritz but less stuffy. Inside it’s like stepping back in time to a sugar snow globe. Think, classy glass cabinets were sweet treats live and 1920s seating.

Rosendals Trädgård

Rows of greenhouses, fields of sunflowers, and biodynamic brews… Rosendals Trädgård is more than a garden cafe (insert M&S voice), it’s a Swedish garden cafe. You’ll find it on Djurgården island. Come here for fika in nature with sustainable ingredients.

Bageri Petrus

If you like your semla (cream cake) with a side of people watching, Bageri Petrus is your guy. It’s in the Södermalm district - that’s Söder to the cool kids. Some people swear these are the best buns around. Makes sense, these shiny laminated layers of butter are enough to make you weep.

Gast

If this was an adorable cafe name and sign competition Gast would be taking home the trophy. Look out for the white neon ghost on a pink background and you’ve found Gast. The style inside is Scandi and that goes for the simple but stylish menu too. Get the kokosbrownie and a coffee.

Cafe Pascal & Cafe Saturnus

More about the coffee than carbs? We can’t relate. But Cafe Pascal works with micro-roasters so you can be sure of a premium, locally sourced brew.

All about size? Steady. Cafe Saturnus does pillow-size cinnamon rolls. Doesn’t mean you have to nestle into them.

We don’t want to call Vaxholm Bed and Breakfast a Swedish utopia… but it does feel like you’ve died and gone to fika heaven.

These guys are a 50-minute bus journey or 30-minute drive from Stockholm and they do cinnamon bun masterclasses. During your two hour sesh they’ll keep you caffeinated while they teach you the secret of juicy buns. You get to leave with the recipe and a dozen buns of your own.

All lessons are for private groups - so no bun shaming. AND your teacher previously won Home Baker of the Year 2017. Can’t wait until your next Stockholm trip? These guys have been kind enough to drop the recipe so you can make it at home. The legends.

Image Credits:
Tove Freiij/imagebank.sweden.se
Tina Stafrén/imagebank.sweden.se
Ola Ericson/imagebank.sweden.se
Full link to image credits here