Nothing says ‘Greek Summer’ than a cool glass of frape coffe, which with positive or negative innuendos it symbolizes the summer chillout of the Greeks. It is truly a unique and special Greek pleasure.
Frape is a type of coffee that was invented on 1957 at the International Exhibition of Thessaloniki by a Greek employee of Nestle, Dimitris Vakondios. Nestle at the time was launching a chocolate beverage for children that had to be mixed in a shaker with water, and Vacondios, as he couldnt find hot water to use for his instant coffee – that Nestle was selling – used the shaker to mix cold water with instant cofee. That was it, frape was created in a second of inspiration!
The success of the coffee was instant [pun intended] and it spread throughout the whole of Greece within a few years. This type of cold coffee with ice is now an export product for Greece as you can find it in various locations throughout the world (even in Germany!) and there are multiple variations and/or frape cocktails (with ouzo, various liquers, chocolate etc).
However in the past few years the popularity of frape has slowly declined in favour of other coffees (mostly the Italian fredo) but it still remains a rather unique symbol of Greek summer. If you are visiting Greece for the first time it is certainly a pleasure you have to experience and simply chillax in a Greek cafe with your frape.
