How to make freddo espresso at home

How to make freddo espresso, and how it’s different from ‘Greek coffee’ and frappé.

Different types of ‘Greek coffee’: What is Greek Coffee?

Greeks are obsessed with coffee. The original ᾽Greek coffee᾽, though, is quite different to freddo espresso. It’s drunk in Greece, Anatolia, the Balkans and Cyprus and is hence often also referred to as Cypriot coffee and Turkish coffee as well as Greek coffee. It’s heated in a briki, the coffee pot, and served unfiltered, either as a ‘single’ in an espresso-sized cup, or as a ‘double’ in a slightly larger coffee cup.

What is frappé?

Frappé is another type of coffee associated with Greece, which first appeared in 1950s Thessaloniki. Frappé is iced instant coffee. Like freddo espresso, it’s also frothed up using a coffee mixer/frother/shaker and served with ice and a straw.

If you’d like to make frappé instead or don’t have an espresso machine at home, check Souvlakination’s frappé recipe here.

As espresso coffee began to gain popularity, frappé naturally evolved into the freddo espresso in the 1990s, which is the most recent, and arguably now the most popular of Greeks’ favourite coffee order. There are countless coffee shops in every neighbourhood, with enough demand for independents and chains to succeed side-by-side, where the most common order tends to be a freddo.

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What is freddo espresso?

Freddo espresso is espresso coffee shaken with ice. Freddo cappuccino is freddo espresso with frothed milk added to it too. When ordering a freddo, it’s also necessary to specify how much sugar you want: sketo(no sugar), metrio(medium), glyko (sweet), with more variations between and beyond those options. Some people also ask for it to be served ahtipito – unbeaten (i.e. just an iced espresso without the foam). For the purpose of this recipe, don’t worry too much about what those words mean exactly – you can add sugar of your liking and to your liking (albeit at the right stage).

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How to make freddo espresso at home

Equipment/Ingredients:

To make freddo espresso at home you will need:

• An espresso machine

• Good quality ice cubes

• A frappediéra (frappé/freddo mixer – handheld is also fine)

• A nice glass and straw

Method:

1. Pull a double shot of espresso (or a lungo if you’re using capsule machines) into a small coffee cup, glass or cap of a coffee shaker.

2. Pour the double espresso into a regular highball glass (or the coffee shaker/the cup attached to the frappediéra if you have it). If you’re adding sugar, now is the time to add it in so it can dissolve.

3. Add 2 ice cubes.

4. Now, mix with the frappediéra, starting at the bottom of the glass and gently tilting the glass around for no more than 5 seconds roughly. You don’t need to move the cup up and down as this will incorporate too much air. Stop when the freddo has a smooth froth, before too many large bubbles of froth begin to form.

5. Place 4 large ice cubes in a glass and pour in the freddo.

6. Add the kalamaki and you’re done (open to interpretation). To your health and have a good day.

Greek food recipes