October 7th, 2016 is National Frappe Day.
Frappe Day? Wasn’t National Coffee Day only just last week? For those of us frequenting the local Starbucks more scarcely than others, we raise the question, “but, isn’t a frappe the same thing as coffee?” To that, the Frappe Fan-Club objects, “au contraire, mon cherie.”
Though the most well known frappe is a chilled, foam-covered coffee, the beverage extends beyond the Starbucks menu favorite. Drinks or juices frozen to a mush-like consistency, frappes are commonly poured over cracked ice and served as a dessert or appetizer. Though “frappe” (Pronounced either “frap-pay” or “frap”) serves as a broad definition for a chilled drink, the coffee frappe is of Greek origin, invented in 1957 at the International Trade Fair in Thessaloniki.
An improvised experiment, the modern coffee frappe was a result of the unusual mixing of instant coffee (Did someone say instant coffee?? Cue the echoes of groans from the coffee-hipsters, emerging from the dimly-lit coffee shop to remind us of our lack of authenticity, yet again– note “In Honor of Coffee”) and milk, then mixed with cold water (With milk? Yuck!) and ice. Greek variations, determined by ratios of coffee to sugar, include glykós, métrios, skétos, all of which are served with evaporated milk. The Greek frappe is enjoyed in countries such as Cyrus, Turkey, Ukraine, Poland, Romania, Bulgaria, and Denmark, as well.
As for the one we know and love here in the U S of A, the frappe falls into two categories; the “frappuccino”, a variant including coffee, and the coffee-less frappe, the thick-milkshake rendition popular in Boston.
Beyond the western-frappe, the cold drink is one of international popularity, regional variations including Adzuki (red bean) Frap in Japan, Dulce de Leche Frap in Argentina and the Coffee Jelly Frap in the Philippines.
Whether or not you’re a coffee-enthusiast, I challenge you order yourself that frappe you’ve been craving since you learned of this national holiday– give it a shot! (Maybe not of espresso, though.) To quote Forrest Gump, “that’s all I have to say about that.”
