Frappé the Greek

INGREDIENTS

1 full tsp Instant coffee
1 full tsp sugar or substitute (or to taste)
Milk or cream (preferably evaporated milk) if desired
Water
Ice cubes

METHOD

If using a small hand mixer (like the one on the photo):

Pour about an inch of water in a glass. Add sugar and coffee and mix until foamy. Continue by adding a few ice cubes, milk and the rest of water.
If using a shaker:
Shake the water, coffee and sugar until they are dissolved and foamy. Transfer to the glass; add milk, ice cubes and water.
Drink with a straw.

*If you don't have a hand mixer scroll down to the Amazon section for some good deals!

There 're some Greeks (a few) that prefer their Frappé non foamy. Since we don't shake the ingredients it cannot be called Frappé anymore so we call it "karavishios" Frappé. "Karavishios" in Greek means "of the boat" and the story goes that the Greeks, who are considered as seamen, when they are on the boat they don't have the luxury of shakers and much more of mini-mixers, so they just pure some water with sugar and coffee in a glass and they stir it with a spoon. Do I have to mention that in this alternative there is even no need for a straw? Well if you insist on using a straw it's OK... Of course someone would ask why would someone prefer his Frappé "karavishios" style if he is not a seaman; well, that I don't know. I know people that cannot go back to the normal Frappé and are fanatics of "karavishios" but honestly I cannot understand it!!! The whole point of Frappé is the foam, you lose the foam you have just water with coffee! Now, I understand if you're under some conditions that don't allow you to make a Frappé, and it has happen to me many times that I run out of straws or I don't have a shaker or mini-mixer... that's another story!

Well, you know Greeks; if they like something they cannot let it go! So Greeks love so much the feeling of shaken coffee so they had to create a similar coffee for the winter! They created what we call Ness! Now, Ness comes in reality from the word Nestlé which is basically the very well brand who first introduced the instant coffee in Greece! For that reason I have to admit that probably they created Ness first and then the frappe...

~~~RECIPE~~~

INGREDIENTS

1 full tsp Instant coffee
1 full tsp sugar or substitute (or to taste)
Milk or cream (preferably evaporated milk) if desired
Hot Water

Method

Put some water on a boiler or the micro or whatever you use to make some hot water. Meanwhile, put in a mug the coffee and the sugar and add one Tbs of the hot water and start whisking the mix like crazy until the mixture becomes like cream. Now, for this faze you can also use a mini mixer like the one in the Frappé but you don't want to overdo it and end up having half a mug of foam. Another variation would be to use the milk instead of water in order to make this cream; if you use it now you don't have to add it at the end.
When you are satisfied with your cream pour the hot water and try to stir it a little bit (not too much) so it mixes nicely with the cream but you still have a creamy level on the top.
Add your milk and enjoy the Ness cafe'.
You can always try any variation of the above to choose your favorite.
Another variation you can try (especially if you live in the US) is to substitute the milk with your favorite cream so get an extra flavor in there (I love the vanilla cream).

One of the most popular variations of the Frappé coffee is Frappé with ice cream. The preparation is very simple; you just follow your favorite Frappé recipe and you add one scoop of vanilla or chocolate ice cream. You can use next to your straw a long spoon to scoop up some ice cream.
I managed to find a nice photo of Frappé with ice cream on Flickr

Follow the regular Frappé recipe but replace the milk with Baileys and enjoy!

If you've ever been to Greece you've probably noticed the numerous cafeterias in every corner on every street (not to mention the islads). So, let's say that you want to sit down in one of these and enjoy your Frappé; how do you order it?


"Sketos"-It means "plain" and what you should expect is a frappe with no sugar and no milk.
"Sketos me gala"-It means "plain with milk" and you should expect Frappé with no sugar at all but with one dose of milk.
"Metrios me gala"-It means "medium with milk" and what you should expect is a Frappé with one tsp sugar and a dose of milk.
"Metrios horis gala"-It means "medium without milk" and you should expect a Frappé with one tsp of sugar without any milk.
"Glykos me gala"-It means "sweet with milk" and what you should expect is a Frappé with 2+ tsp of sugar and a dose of milk.
"Glykos horis gala"-It means "sweet without milk" and you understand that this will be a Frappé with 2+ tsp of sugar with no milk at all.

-Also, have in mind that in some places they might bring you your Frappé with the milk on the side so you can add as much as you like.
-Another thing that you can do when you order your Frappé is to ask for a specific amount of sugar. For example, "mia kutalia zahari" means one tsp of sugar, "dyo kutalies zahari" means two tsp of sugar and "tris kutalies zahari" means three tsp of sugar. Now, if you want less than one tsp sugar you can say: "mia kofti kutalia zahari" that means the amount of sugar that you can carry in the point of a tsp, or "missi kutalia zahari", which means half tsp of sugar.
-The same rules apply when you order a "ness".

FRAPPE



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