Coffee break – these two words are music to my ears. I am a coffee FIEND. At my house we use a French press (frowned upon, I know – but I don’t care), and I like it strong, black and with two sugars. If I’m in a café I will order either a latte or a f at white, because I secretly think they’re the same thing. But the wildcard element is what I will have to munch on WITH my coffee. The choices are endless.
I love the between-meal snackiness of a coffee break, but I also like that there’s an element of ceremony to it. This is no hastily grabbed fistful of almonds eaten at your desk. The coffee break is about forgetting work for fifteen minutes (or longer *wink*) and having a chat with someone. It’s a beloved institution.
In Sweden they have fika, both a noun and a verb, which at its most basic means taking a coffee break. But the true translation is more ambiguous. The Swedes embrace the bonding and cosiness that an intentionally social coffee break can bring. On the same wavelength are those lovely Brits with their afternoon tea – sometimes incredibly formal, but sometimes as simple as a scone and a mug of milky English Breakfast.
A cookie, a brownie, a pastry or a dainty cake; this chapter is a list of all the things that I most want to appear next to my mid-morning cup. Well these and, let’s be honest, some gossip. I’ve done a little globe-trotting here, stopping by the Middle East for bright green Pistachio baklava and tripping across the pond for Strawberry and rose butterfly cakes. But I landed squarely back in Oz with my Homemade Tim Tams. They, like the elusive coffee break, are not to be missed.