Day 37: Greek Frappe; Greek Iced Coffee with Milk Substitute (Almond Milk) - April 24th, 2013

With the warmer weather coming, we like to consider some of our summer treats and get ready, start thinking about, and preparing things so that we can have one day of just relaxing and enjoying a special treat.  This week, several days were quite warm, and during our afternoon coffee break, we decided to cool off with a nice iced coffee.  Now, in Greece, you wouldn't ask for iced coffee -- that's not the right term.  You would ask for "Frappe" (Φραπέ).  But, what makes the Greek frappe nicer than the American iced coffee?  Well, a lot of things.  Of course, we are a little biased, and we do have a preference for stronger flavours, so you will decide for yourself.  But, the Greek frappe is also Lenten!  Yes, that's right -- you can do it completely without dairy products!  We did choose to use almond milk to make our frappe, but the milk part is completely optional.  You don't even have to use sugar.  Really, it's an instant coffee on ice.  However, it is all in the method of making the coffee.

So, what do we do to make Greek frappe?  We shake.  We were shaking in our shoes to make this frappe.  Enough corny jokes -- it may put us on shaky ground...  But, you get the idea, right?  The secret to a successful frappe coffee is the shaking and creating the foam (froth). If you skip that step then you do not get frappe, you just get coffee.

Here is the Wikipedia entry on Greek frappe.

We are giving you a recipe to make one large (16 oz) glass of frappe.  That means that you can double it for two people, or you can drink from a smaller glass.   But, once you taste this, you may not want to share!  For this recipe, you will need the following:

1 Tablespoon Nescafé Frappe coffee
1 Tablespoon Sugar (optional)
1 Glass cold water
2 ounces liquid milk-substitute (optional)
Ice cubes to taste

We used a bar shaker to mix our frappe.  You can use any cylindrical container that has a tight closing lid.  We did see in the grocery store that the Nescafé company is now selling a frappe shaker ($14.99 Canadian) that you can use.  It is a cute idea, but we found that our drink shakers from a bar set that we received as a gift did a fine job.  Use what you have, or you can purchase the Nescafé shaker.

The other thing we learned at the grocery store is that there are some people who believe that the Nescafé Frappe coffee is the only instant coffee that works to make a great frappe.  We had to take that challenge and try another instant coffee as well as the Nescafé to see if using another brand could produce the same end result, or is there something special that Nescafé does to their coffee to make frappe the way we know it.

Our other brand of instant coffee was Maxwell House.  This is a common brand that is available most places, so we had to see what the differences were.  First, we can see that there is a colour difference.  The Nescafé is so much darker in colour.  But, the texture looked about the same.  We also must note the price difference.  The Nescafé Frappe was $12.99 for the 200g can, whereas the Maxwell House Instant Coffee was $5.99 for the 200g jar.  We would like to spend less money, but only if the other instant coffee gives us the same results as the Nescafé.

First, put the Tablespoon of coffee in the shaker.

Then, add the Tablespoon of sugar.  You can adjust the amount of sugar that you like.  If you like unsweetened coffee, then omit or reduce the sugar.  We found that when we omitted the sugar all together, the foam was not as sturdy.  When we added less sugar, we got a strong foam that held up even half way through drinking the coffee.  And, if you like a very sweet coffee, you can add more sugar.  Sugar substitutes do not work well here.  They will sweeten the frappe, but they do not produce the same foam results as real sugar.

To the sugar and coffee powder, add one fourth of the glass you are using filled with water.  You want just enough water to make a thin sludge out of the coffee.  In our shaker, we filled about 1 inch of water (2.5 cm).  The more water you add here the thinner the foam becomes.  But, you have to make sure to add enough water to make the foam.  If the coffee sludge is too thick from not enough water, it does not produce any foam.  It is better to add a little too much water than not enough.

Now shake.  We mean SHAKE!  Shake as hard as you can for 60 seconds.  We shook as long as 90 seconds, but didn't see much difference.  At 1 minute, you may get tired of shaking, so that is long enough.  Shake!  Shake up and down to make sure to incorporate as much air as you possibly can into the mix.  There are some stores that sell a small battery operated whip that will do this step for you, but think about the exercise you are getting while shaking, and it feels like you then earn the reward of drinking the frappe.  Shake for 60 seconds.

We also want to mention that if you are using a bar shaker to  do this, please make sure to use two hands when shaking -- one to hold the container, and the other to hold the lid in place.  It is a huge mess to clean when the frappe sludge goes all over the kitchen because the lid popped off while you were shaking.  Although, it is one way to get your kitchen floor and walls cleaned...

After shaking, you will see this beautiful foam.  It should be thick like waffle batter and have the colour of espresso.  In fact, it may look like the sediment from the bottom of a cup of hot Greek coffee.  Pour that into the glass full of ice cubes.  This will not be enough to fill the glass, but it will be enough soon.  Pour all the foam into the glass.

Add cold water to the glass with the coffee and ice.  Pour enough cold water to fill the glass.  If you are using a milk product (we used almond milk), then leave a bit of space at the top to pour the milk into this glass.  We found that if you like milk in hot coffee, you will likely want it in the iced coffee, too.  Pour the water to fill the glass, and then add the milk to your liking.  At first, you will see the layers of each ingredient (the foam, the coffee, the milk).  Just put a spoon in the glass and agitate the contents for a few seconds.  You will see everything come together and make one uniform colour with the foam staying on the top.

Doesn't this look inviting?! Do you see the difference between the two coffees?  One of the glasses is lighter in colour than the other.  It was also lighter in flavour.  We really noticed the difference in the colour and thickness of the foam.  The Nescafé brand frappe (pictured above on the left) had a stronger, deeper flavour than the Maxwell House Instant Coffee (pictured above on the right).  Both were still good, but the Maxwell House was a little weak for our tastes.  But, after several tries using various amounts of coffee, we found that we needed to add two and a half spoonfuls of Maxwell House Instant Coffee to make the same flavour of the Nescafé.  In the long run, even though the bottle of Maxwell House is less expensive in price than the can of Nescafé, we have to use 3 times more coffee to get the result we want, the Maxwell House ends up being the more expensive coffee!  But, at least we know it works.  In a pinch, if we cannot get the Nescafé brand, we have a back up plan!  For now, we have some frappe to enjoy!

"A good name is to be chosen more than much wealth. And good grace more than silver and gold."

Book of Proverbs: 22:1