Frappé is a popular cold coffee drink, with the Greek Café Frappé being the best-known variant. It is most common in the Mediterranean region and is made from spray-dried instant coffee, sugar, cold water and ice cubes. The ingredients are shaken vigorously or mixed to create a frothy consistency. Another variation is the American café frappé, where instant coffee is dissolved in milk and cooled with ice cubes.
The term "frappé" comes from the French and means "to shake". This name refers to the method of preparing the drink, in which the ingredients are vigorously shaken or mixed to create a frothy consistency. To prepare a Greek frappé, a spoonful of instant coffee is mixed with sugar and a small amount of cold water. The mixture is stirred vigorously until it becomes frothy and then topped up with cold water, crushed ice and optionally milk. The finished frappé is usually served with a straw.
Frappé differs from iced coffee in the way it is chilled. Frappé is chilled with ice cubes or crushed ice, while iced coffee often contains milk ice, such as vanilla ice. However, there are also mixed forms of frappé that contain a scoop of vanilla ice cream. The spray-dried instant coffee, which consists of solid particles and has a low fat content, creates a foam with tiny bubbles that is stable and long-lasting compared to other coffee drinks such as espresso crema.
