Freddo Coffee Culture - The evolution of iced coffee
FREDDO COFFEE CULTURE
Greece is, amongst other things, the birthplace of Freddo coffee. It is almost impossible for Greeks to imagine entering March without their favorite cold coffee! Although a cold beverage, it's quite popular also during winter times. It’s exactly the same with ice cream; there are those that enjoy it the full year and those that treat it strictly as a summertime dessert.
Freddo has become part of the Greek culture and now is spreading around the world! It is not to be confused with the other famous Greek drink, the Frappe. The main difference is that Frappe is made with instant coffee and not ground coffee beans roasted for espresso. The Frappe goes back n 1957, which was accidentally discovered by another greek coffee fanatic.
The origins are traced back to 1991 from a coffee team in Greece that came up with this name and recipe to promote coffee during the warm Greek summers!
Why Freddo is better than iced coffee, you are asking?
It’s kind of simple, actually. By blending the espresso with ice, and shaking them in a bar-mixer, you get a creamy texture and achieve a better homogenization, rather than just throw a shot of espresso on ice cubes, as it happens in regular iced coffee.
RECIPES for the perfect Freddo Espresso & Cappuccino
Freddo espresso
- Prepare a double shot of espresso
- If you take your coffee with sugar now is the right time to bring it in. it is easier to dissolve it
- Mix well do the sugar is completely dissolved
- Move the coffee to a shaker with 3-4 ice cubes and mix in a bar mixer for 6-7 seconds until you see the beautiful thick foam forms
- Serve is a low glass full of ice (the bigger the ice cubes the slower they melt – although here in AMS we won’t have this issue many times during the year :P)
Freddo cappuccino
- Prepare as above for freddo espresso.
- Use cold shaker and cold milk light (less fat the better)
- Let it shake in the bar-mixer until the milk forms a silky-smooth cream.
- Serve the milk cream on top of the Freddo espresso.
The reason for not mixing the milk with the coffee is to get two different textures; iced coffee and cold milk cream. If you don’t stir your drink, slowly, the cream will turn back into milk again and it will start blending smoothly with the coffee. It’s pure magic!