Usually, in the morning people drink their morning coffee or cappuccino. The Greeks drink their morning frappe. And not only in the morning, of course. In Greece frappe is being drunk all day (and night) long. This icy drink is very refreshing in hot days when you lie on the beach, when you travel, when you work, when you are thirsty, etc. We ourselves drink it all year round because it makes us think of summer and because the truth is, we are addicted. Missing a frappe brings us headache. Addicted or not, it helps us work better (or caffeine makes us happier).
When you order frappe in Greece, it usually comes with a glass/bottle of water and sometimes with small cookies. If you want milk to be added, you`d better say it in advance cause many people drink it without milk. As it comes to sugar, they would ask you how sweet you prefer it. You could always say 1,2,3, etc. spoons but they would most probably look strange at you, trying to figure out your words. The reason is that the Greeks have a “standard” system for measuring how sweet a frappe/coffee is:
1) Sketo – no sugar added
2) Metrio – medium quantity of sugar added
3) Gliko – much sugar added
4) Poli gliko – you are on your way to drink sugar instead of coffee
If you remember the word for your type, it would be easier for both parties to answer the question ”How much sugar”. Tip: If you drink you frappe with milk but without sugar, specify this because “sketo” in fact means “clean”, i.e. without sugar, milk, cream, etc., just water and coffee. For sure you don`t necessarily need to learn these words, they will always understand you but…all people are happy when a foreigner makes efforts to say a word in their language.
Most cafes and beach bars use condensed milk and the taste is a bit different than fresh milk so don`t get suspicious. A take-away frappe in plastic cups is also very popular and usually big –400-500 ml. Such a large quantity, especially when made strong, may affect you even though you often take coffee (once, after a 500ml cup of frappe served in a beach bar in Hanioti, one of us went swimming for an hour and had energy for even more).
How we make frappe at home
Needed: A big glass (more than 300 ml), a straw, a frappe mixer, instant coffee, sugar, milk, ice cubes, water.
Process: Put 3/4 small (coffee spoons) of coffee and as much sugar as you wish sugar into the glass, then add some water, just to cover the coffee. Stir with the mixer for 10-15 seconds until you get cream. Add more water (50-100 ml) and stir again until you get rich cream. Now put a few ice cubes, fill with milk to the brim and put the straw in the glass. That`s it!
The quantities are approximate and you can add more/less or skip some of the products. The double stirring is very important, otherwise the cream will go away shortly.
Below we have some photos of places in Greece where we had nice frappes and nice memories. Enjoy!
