How to make Greek Frappé: instant iced coffee recipe

What is frappé?

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

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

Greeks are obsessed with coffee. The original ᾽Greek coffee᾽, though, is quite different to both frappé and 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.

Frappé vs Freddo espresso

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, and where the most common order tends to be a freddo espresso or freddo cappuccino. But frappé remains popular amongst older generations, at home and in more remote or mobile street/beach bars that might not have an espresso machine.

How to make freddo espresso: recipe

If you want to make your own freddo espresso at home, you can read Souvlakination’s freddo espresso recipe here.

However, given that freddo espresso requires espresso (and, therefore, an espresso machine) many Greeks tend to make frappé at home. This is how they do it.

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How to make Frappé: Recipe

Ingredients

• Instant coffee, ideally frappé coffee (widely available in Greece and Cyprus and at ethnic shops in the diaspora)

• Granulated sugar (optional)

• Organic whole milk / condensed milk / evaporated milk (optional)

• Good quality ice and clean water (not tap water if you live in the UK)

Method: how to make Greek frappé

1. Add 1-2 teaspoons of the frappé coffee to a tall glass, and any sugar to your liking (less if you are using sweetened condensed/evaporated milk [don’t add the milk yet]).

2. Add 1-2cm of fresh water.

3. Using a frapiéra/mixer/frother, give the coffee a quick whiz, initially keeping the tip of the wand at the bottom of the glass to ensure the coffee and any sugar properly dissolve. Gradually twist your wrist to swivel your glass and mix around the corners before living the mixer up slightly, until you have a smooth, silky mixture. Don’t froth for too long or else you will get a frothy mixture with larger bubbles that won’t hold and will give you a watery frappé.

4. Add a splash of milk to your liking (about 50-100ml) or a couple of teaspoons of evaporated/condensed milk.

5. Add 2-3 ice cubes and a splash of water.

6. Give it a stir with your straw and enjoy!

You can even find tsoureki-flavoured frappé from our friends Melvourni in Melbourne.