The Freddo Cappuccino is a Modern Greek Classic
A Greek variation of the Italian caffè freddo con panna, the freddo cappuccino is an upgrade of the fabled frappé.
An espresso revolution was brewing in the squares of Athens and the Greek capital’s more stylish cafeterias were plotting to overthrow the beloved frappé, an ice coffee built with a froth made by shaking instant coffee granules with a little water. At around that time, I was co-writing Frappé Nation, a history about the rise and ultimately, the decline of Greece’s national identify soft drink.
The source of the frappé’s impressive foam was also the cause of its downfall. The social stigma attached to instant coffee came late to Greece, but by the 1990s Athenians were preferring espresso not just to Nescafé but also to traditional Greek coffee and filter-brewed coffee.
Greece is famous for its myths and so it shouldn’t be a surprise that the origin of two seductive iced coffees is a matter of competing truths. Some link the creation of the Greek-style freddo and the freddo cappuccino to a cafe by the name of Freddo in the Bournazi area of Athens. Yannis Apostolopoulos, CEO and executive director of the Specialty Coffee Association, disagrees, crediting the invention to another Yannis – Yannis Iosifidis of Kafea Terra, the Greek distributor of Illy Coffee.
Regardless of who made these iced espressos first, what’s clear is that their inspiration was Italian and so too was their aspirational value. At that time, it wasn’t only Greeks who were convinced Italians did coffee better.
The Greek-style freddo is comparable to Italian caffè shakerato: Espresso shaken vigorously with ice and sugar until its frothy and uniformly golden. It’s an elegant and even sexy drink.
The freddo cappuccino is less like an iced cappuccino than the Italian dessert coffee caffè freddo con panna - “cold espresso coffee topped with whipped cream.” The frothed milk sits atop the espresso, like the cream over an Irish coffee.
These Greek adaptations took advantage of two things already found behind the bar of nearly every cafe in Greece: Evaporated milk, a holdover from the days when unsweetened condensed milk was valued as a safe and reliable substitue for perishable fresh milk, and the spindle drinks mixer used for foaming and frothing frappés.
The mixing action of the drinks mixer is much more powerful than a handheld shaker, transforming the iced espresso liquid into a golden mousse composed of tiny bubbles. It looks creamy and delivers a richness of coffee flavour, yet it remains a liquid. It’s not a slushy. It’s not a granita.
The evaporated milk, when blitzed in the mixer, thickens into a wonderfully smooth yet pourable cream. Crucially, if you slowly stir the freddo cappuccino with a straw, the thickened evaporated milk will not split up or break down. Its dissolution is gradual and fluid.
Evaporated milk in Greece is known by the popular brand name pronounced “Nou-Nou” – spelled NOYNOY. Now there is even a barista grade of NOYNOY, as there must be for all alternative milks. According to the company’s website, the main purpose of the Barista’s Gold varieties of NOYNOY is to enhance the taste and aroma of a coffee and balance its intensity and flavour profile. But maybe it’s also about enhancing the image of a canned product with a shelf life of several months, in an era when everything has to be fresh. It’s likely that FrieslandCampina, the multinational dairy cooperate that owns NOYNOY, didn’t want evaporated milk to fall out of favour in the manner of instant coffee, another heat-processed consumer product.
There’s never been any need for the rehabilitation of unsweetened evaporated milk and sweetened condensed milk in Vietnam, Thailand, India, Hong Kong, Mexico and Brazil, where it is a popular ingredient in coffees, teas or other beverages and desserts. The appeal of these canned milks can be as much about richness as convenience. The terms evaporated and condensed indicate over half of the water has been removed from the milk. The result is thick, rich, more flavourful.
Evaporated milk foams to a velvety cream with high stability. The texture is that of soft, pourable whipped cream. If you sip a freddo cappuccino very slowly, or if you’re at the beach and you leave it for a quick swim, the smooth foam won’t desert you. The beaten milk has staying power, like the modern Greek classic it crowns.
FREDDO CAPPUCCINO RECIPE
1 double shot espresso
sugar to taste (optional)
Ice cubes
60-100ml cold evaporated milk (substitute whole milk or soy milk)
Combine espresso, sugar and a few ice cubes in a blender, cocktail shaker or mixer and mix/shake vigorously. Strain into a glass over 3 or 4 ice cubes.
Blitz milk in a blender or spin with a hand-held frother until thick and creamy.
Place spoon over the glass and slowly pour the beaten milk over the spoon, letting it overflow and float over the shaken iced coffee. Do not stir milk into coffee.
Serve with a straw.