Greek frappé coffee

Frappé redirects here. For the musical term see Downbeat Greek frappé is a foam-covered drink derived from spray-dried instant coffee that is consumed cold. It is very popular in Greece especially during summer but also found in other countries. The instant coffee found in other countries such as the USA is usually freeze-dried, which is in general more flavorful, but whose higher oil content impedes foam formation.

History of the Greek frappé

Frappé dates back to the 1957 International Trade Fair in Thessaloniki. The representative of the Nestlé company, Yiannis Dritsas, was exhibiting a new product for children, a chocolate beverage produced instantly by mixing it with milk and shaking it in a shaker. Dritsas' employee Vakondios was looking for a way to have his usual instant coffee during his break but he could not find any hot water. So he made the decision to use cold water and a shaker, creating the first frappé coffee.

Vakondios is now 87 years old and confesses that he finds it difficult to believe how a simple improvised experiment came to establish the neo-Greek national drink.

Since then, the product has been marketed chiefly by Nestlé and has had great success in Greece. More recently, Kraft, under the Jacobs label, have launched their own brand of frappé.

It is also said that frappé was invented by construction workers who needed a beverage with a durable, non-drinkable foam that would act as a shield against dust and dirt in their working environment. The foam also keeps the coffee cool for a rather long timespan. For the same reason, frappé started being served in beach bars during the day.

Greeks and frappé

Frappé has become the national coffee of Greece. The average Greek will spend over an hour at a coffeeshop having a frappé every day. In Greece, people usually say "let's go for a coffee" instead of "let's go for a drink" and most of friendly meetings are over frappé glasses. Since frappé is always accompanied with tap water, after they have finished their coffee, some Greeks will put some of the water to the frappé glass and stir with the straw in order to prolong the frappé drinking ritual, although some other consider this a bad habit. Since Greeks are smokers at a large percentage, the combination of "frappé ké tsigáro" (frappé and cigarette) can be seen everywhere. In fact this is sometimes jokingly characterised as "the Greek breakfast".

Due to the above, frappé is artistically the symbol of laziness and time consumption. The lazy neo-Greek archetype will be depicted in pop art with a frappe in hand. However, since frappé is a strong coffee, it is often found at the desks of students who wish to prolong their studying hours. It is also a favorite drink of workers, especially during summer time for the reasons specified in the history section.

It's not an uncommon phenomenon, when Greeks travel abroad to ask (sometimes demand) for frappe in coffee shops, being certain that frappe is, like in Greece, a common beverage (which is not). More confusion arises, when Greeks travel to France and being confident enough that since frappé is a French word, it should, naturally, be served in French coffee shops. Of course, this is not the case.

According to the Sunday magazine K of the newspaper Kathimerini, Greece consumes about four times more coffee than the rest of the world, in proportion to its population.

Physics of Coffee

The spray-dried instant coffee contain nearly no oil, just tiny particles (coffee solids), some molecules responsible for flavor and taste, and of course caffeine. When dissolved, spray-dried coffee forms a simpler and more stable colloid relative to traditionally brewed coffee. This enables creation of the characteristic thick frothy layer at the top of the coffee. This layer appears similar to créma, the foam found in espresso, but is much thicker and the composition is different. It can be characterized mainly as a binary phase colloid where tiny bubbles are held together by the coffee solids. The absence of oil (or the significantly lower oil content compared to traditionally brewed coffee) makes the system more stable and the bubbles do not collapse with the same ease as in créma. Soon after the foam is created a process of thickening taking place, where water molecules are constantly pushed out of the frothy mixture. The bubbles come very close together and the foam almost solidifies. This process can take somewhere between 2 to 10 minutes depending on the agitation process during mixing. When almost all the water is pushed out the bubbles have came so close that will slowly start to collapse and create bigger bubbles. At this point the presence of oil (a hydrophobic agent) can significantly accelerate the collapsing process, resulting the creation of a lighter foam with average bubble diameter larger than 4 mm. This is the reason it is not possible to make a good frappé in many countries, unless one can find spray-dried coffee (which actually is less expensive). The utilization of a hand mixer makes possible the creation of finer bubbles which increases the time that the foam can last. The best frappé coffees are often held to be those with the smallest bubbles and a thickness of about 1.5 to 2 inches (30 to 50 mm) of foam.

The foam itself has no effect on the coffee's actual taste, and in fact, the drinker generally utilizes a straw to prevent contact with the foam. Still, the foam is now considered an itegral part of the frappé, and many people love the texture and the taste of the foamy top. True frappé lovers will not consume the drink without the proper degree of foam present.

Frappé variations

Frappé comes in various tastes, determined by the amount of coffee, sugar or milk used.

A frappé glykós (IPA ) is sweet, a métrios is medium, and a skétos contains no sugar. A frappé gala (//) or φραπόγαλο frapógalo (//) comes with milk, a frappé horis gala without milk.

Some people use Kahlua or other coffee liqueurs, like Baileys Irish Cream. There is also one more really tasty variation, the 'frappe-choco' or 'kakao-frapo' that people use chocolate milk instead of regular milk.

Some people, when shaking the Frappe, they add albumen for better taste.

In some places you can ask for Frappe (sketos or metrios or glykos) with (papa (priest) or kapelo (hat)). For example: '1 Frappe glyko me kapelo' (1 Frappe sweet with hat) or '1 Frappe sketo me papa' (1 Frappe without sugar with priest). The 'kapelo' (or the 'papas') is nothing else than an addition of one teaspoon of Frappe on the top of the foam. This addition of extra coffee stays on the top until you mix the whole drink using the straw. In that way the Frappe becomes stronger.

Futhermore, there is the "ahtypitos"(not shaken) or "koutalatos" (spooned) or "koutalaki" (small spoon) variation, where the contents are simply stirred. It supposedly makes the coffee stronger and gives a slightly different taste.

Dosology

Greeks are usually very precise on the quantity of sugar and coffee they want in their frappé. If they ask for sweet and they get anything less, they complain that the frappé is "dhilitirio" or "farmaki" (both mean poison) and if they ask for medium and they get anything sweeter for their taste, they complain that the frappé is "petimezi" (molasses). Also if the frappé is not strong enough they complain that it is "nerozoumi" (water-broth) or "podarozoumo" and if there's too much coffee they say it is "dhinamitis" (dynamite) or "bourloto" (wildfire). Therefore many specify the exact number of teaspoons (or even half-teaspoons) of sugar/coffee they want.

A general (but definitely not universally accepted) rule for the sugar dosage is: skétos: 0 teaspoons, métrios: 1 to 1.5 teaspoons, glykós: 2 to 3 teaspoons..

Frappé in other parts of the world

Frappé is also consumed in Cyprus, Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Thailand, Malaysia and Romania. In recent years Balkan immigrants in Greece have taken frappé to their homelands, where it has been adopted with some differences. In Bulgaria, Coca-cola is sometimes used instead of water, and in Serbia, ice-cream is always added. In Italy, an iced-coffee called espresso fréddo has emerged, a variation of which has also become very popular in Greece. The difference in preparation is that the greek type of espresso fréddo has as prerequisite the shaking of the ingredients whereas the italian one is consisted only by the addition of ice cubes in a freshly prepared espresso lungo. In Greece the capuccino fréddo is also widely consumed. Its preparation is sometimes misinterpreted with the iced café latte (espresso in iced cold milk but without shaking) that is consumed in the rest of Europe.

The word frappé is french and means "shaken". But in France a frappé is a milkshake beverage produced by mixing milk or fruit juices in a shaker without coffee and thus it has no relationship to Greek frappé. In New England, a frappé contains ice cream.

External links and articles

Coffee | Greek cuisine

Coffee

Cafe frappe | Φραπέ | Café frappé | frappé