Greece’s summer coffee: instant coffee, sugar and a little cold water shaken into a thick, pale foam, then topped up with ice and cold water and drunk slowly through a straw. Nestlé dates it to the 1957 Thessaloniki International Fair.
Untested: not yet made in this kitchen. It is here for the Iced and Whipped Coffees page.
Ingredients
- 2 teaspoons instant coffee (Greek Nescafé is the usual choice)
- 0 to 4 teaspoons sugar, by the order: none for skétos, 1 to 2 for métrios, 2 to 4 for glykós
- 1 tablespoon cold water, for the foam
- 4 to 6 ice cubes
- 150 to 200 ml (5 to 7 oz) cold water, to top up
- 2 tablespoons cold milk or evaporated milk, optional
Directions
- Put the instant coffee, the sugar and 1 tablespoon of cold water in a cocktail shaker, a jar with a tight lid, or a tall glass if you are using a small electric frappé mixer or milk frother.
- Shake hard, or whisk, for 20 to 30 seconds, until the mixture has turned into a thick, pale foam that fills about half the glass.
- Pour the foam into a tall glass, add the ice, then pour in cold water slowly down the side until the glass is nearly full; the foam rises on top.
- Add the milk if you want it (me gála), put in a straw and drink it slowly, stirring now and then.
Notes
Where this comes from After the Greek method as given by Lemon & Olives (2 teaspoons of coffee, 1 of sugar for métrios, a tablespoon of cold water, shaken 20 to 30 seconds) and the order codes on Wikipedia, which gives 2 and 4 teaspoons of sugar for métrios and glykós. Cafés set their own ratios. History Nestlé’s account: Dimitris Vakondios, a Nestlé employee, shook instant coffee with cold water and ice at the Thessaloniki International Fair in 1957, because there was no hot water. The photo A frappé at a café in Greece, 2016, with a glass of water beside it.