The hot days of summer are getting closer and closer. When the heat wave comes to us, even if we like high temperatures, we often dream about an effective way to cool down. For this purpose, a patent known and successfully used by Greeks and Italians, namely frappe, i.e. iced coffee, works perfectly. How to prepare it in a truly Italian style, so that it’s delicious and pleasantly cool? Here are some proven recipes.
Frappe is an excellent way to cope with high temperatures in summer. It’s an iced coffee that originated in Greece and is drunk almost all day long in large quantities. It is just as popular, if not more so, in Italy, which we can almost consider the motherland of this caffeinated beverage. Traditionally it is a drink prepared from instant coffee and it is in this version that it is best known, although it is not always the tastiest option, and for real coffee lovers almost unacceptable. A real Italian frappe must have a large amount of milk, sugar and froth in it. How to make it yourself at home?
To make a homemade frappe, you’ll need instant coffee, milk or cream, ice, sugar, and a shaker or blender. If you have a coffee machine at home, you can use pre-brewed espresso instead of instant coffee.
Put a teaspoon or two (it depends on how strong you want the drink) of instant coffee in a container and pour cold water over it. At this stage you can also add sugar as desired. Then blend until you get a satisfying foam. Check if there is no more undissolved coffee on the bottom. Then add ice cubes and pour cold milk over everything. Stir and you’re done. Now you know the quickest and easiest way to make a frappe.
It is a common misconception among Italians that instant coffee is not suitable. In a typical Italian version of this cold drink you must use brewed espresso. You can brew it in an espresso machine or a coffee machine. For this option, the most important tool for us will be a bar shaker, into which we pour a double espresso (necessarily cooled!), add about 100 ml of water and 100 ml of cold milk. Add 2 teaspoons of sugar (you can also use brown sugar, xylitol or stevia).
Now it’s time for the most demanding part of the recipe, namely shaking the shaker vigorously until the ingredients are combined, the sugar dissolves and the frappe foam forms. Finally, we carefully pour the liquid into a chilled glass filled with a few ice cubes. Drink through a straw as the froth that remains on the surface may be bitter.
If you want to get carried away with the holiday spirit and go wild, you can also add coffee syrup, caramel, chocolate, whipped cream, condensed milk, cinnamon, cardamom, sprinkles, or even ice cream (vanilla or cream would be best) to the finished frappe, although be warned that the enriched version may turn out to be a beautifully served calorie bomb.
This recipe is a variation on the Italian frappe, which consists in brewing espresso and pouring it into a cube machine. Then, whenever you feel like iced coffee, you can pour two or three coffee cubes over cold milk and add sugar.
main photo: unsplash.com/Thimo van Leeuwen
