Greek Frappé
Φραπέ (frapé) Say frah-PEH
A foamy iced coffee from Greece made by shaking or whisking instant coffee with sugar and a little water, then adding cold water, ice and (optionally) evaporated milk. Ordered plain, medium or sweet, with or without milk.
- ServedIced
- In EnglishShaken iced instant coffee
- TastesBitter, Bold, Sweet
About Greek Frappé
The frappé is the iced coffee that powered Greek summers for decades. It is made from instant coffee, sugar to taste and a splash of water, shaken in a shaker or whizzed with a small hand mixer until it turns into a thick, light-brown foam. The foam goes into a tall glass, then come ice cubes, cold water and, if you like, a little milk. It is always served with a straw, and the foam stays on top for a surprisingly long time.
The taste is strong, slightly bitter and as sweet as you choose – Greeks order it skétos (no sugar), métrios (medium) or glykós (sweet), and me gála (with milk) or without. Instant coffee foams so well because the spray-dried granules contain almost no oil, giving a stable froth that is a little like a long-lasting crema.
A frappé is meant to be nursed, not gulped. Friends sit for hours at seaside cafés and city squares over one glass, rattling the ice and chatting. Although the newer freddo espresso and freddo cappuccino have taken over many Greek café menus, the frappé is still everywhere in Greece and Cyprus – on beaches, in kiosks and at home – and remains a symbol of relaxed Greek café life.
In the cup
- Coffee foam 25%
- Evaporated milk 10%
- Cold coffee with water 40%
- Ice 25%
Ingredients
- Instant coffee (e.g. Nescafé Classic)2 tsp
- Sugar0–4 tsp, to taste
- Cold water2–3 tbsp for shaking + about 150 ml to top up
- Ice cubes3–4
- Evaporated or whole milk (optional)2–4 tbsp
How to make it
You needCocktail shaker, lidded jar or small electric milk frother/hand mixer; tall glass; straw
Ratio2 teaspoons instant coffee; 0 / 2 / 4 teaspoons sugar for plain / medium / sweet; ≈ 200 ml water plus ice
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Put the instant coffee and sugar into a shaker or tall glass.
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Add 2–3 tablespoons of cold water.
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Shake hard or whisk with a hand mixer for 20–30 seconds until you have a thick, pale foam.
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Pour the foam into a tall glass (if you used a shaker) and add the ice cubes.
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Slowly top up with cold water, leaving room for milk if using.
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Add milk to taste, pop in a straw and serve.
Origin & history
The best-known story says the frappé was invented by accident at the Thessaloniki International Fair in 1957. Dimitris Vakondios, who worked for Nestlé’s representative in Greece, wanted his usual instant coffee during a break but couldn’t find hot water, so he shook the instant coffee with cold water and ice in a shaker – and the foamy drink was born. Thessaloniki still calls itself the frappé’s home town.
The story is not beyond doubt. Greek writers have questioned it, and a 2013 article in the Greek food magazine Gastronomos pointed to Nestlé newspaper advertisements for “Nescafé frappé” that appeared before the 1957 fair, suggesting the drink, or at least the idea, already existed.
Either way, Nestlé’s marketing – especially from the 1980s – made the “Nescafé frappé” a national habit and a fixture of Greek outdoor café life. Visitors spread the word abroad, and the drink became more widely known internationally around the 2004 Athens Olympics. The name comes from the French frappé, used for drinks chilled with ice and meaning “struck” or, loosely, “shaken”.
Variations
- Frapógalofrappé made with milk (Greece)
- Cypriot frappéoften made with milk instead of water (Cyprus)
- Frappé with ice creama scoop of vanilla ice cream added, a beach-bar favourite (Greece)
- Boozy frappéa shot of coffee or cream liqueur such as Kahlúa or Baileys (Greek beach bars)
- Koutalátosstirred with a spoon instead of shaken (Greece)
- Freddo espressoits modern successor: espresso shaken with ice, first made in Athens in the early 1990s (Greece)
Good to know
Always state sweetness and milk when ordering: skétos / métrios / glykós and me gála or horís gála.
Sugar goes in before shaking, so it can’t easily be added later – decide up front.
Use the straw to drink from below the foam; many Greeks find the top layer of foam bitter.
Take your time – a frappé is a drink to sit over for an hour, and nobody will rush you.
Ask for a glass of water alongside; most Greek cafés bring one automatically.
