The word has quite ambiguous connotations and can mean anything from taking a break from work or other activities, to going on a date. Swedes are among the heaviest consumers of coffee in the world and this practice of taking a break for a coffee, typically with a cinnamon roll and/or some biscuits or cookies, or sometimes a smörgås on the side, is central to Swedish life. Although the word may in
itself imply "taking a break from work", this is often emphasied using the word fikapaus ("fika pause") or fikarast ("fika break"), with kaffepaus and kafferast, respectively, as near synonyms. The shorter word fika may equally well mean having coffee with a friend at a café or konditori (a "patisserie-based coffeehouse"). Since the word implies drinking coffee, just having a smörgås or sandwich would not really be fika. Drinking tea, however, is also common, and young people may have lemonade, a soft drink, or milk, instead of coffee. However, in a strict sense, a genuine fika implies coffee. Fika is also combined in words such as fikabröd ("fika bread") which is a collective name for all kinds of biscuits, cookies, buns, etc that are traditionally eaten with coffee. Non sweetened breads are normally not included in this term (even though these may sometimes be consumed with coffee). Fika is also used as a noun, referring to fikabröd and coffee combined.
