Five retro coffees from the greek coffee culture
Retro recipes from the past of Greek coffee culture.
The Greek coffee culture is nowadays almost identified with espresso and open to new trends, while the coffee consumers are fully informed and quite demanding. For years, however, the reality in Greece has been quite different: for decades, Greek coffee has been the only coffee for the general public, and the frappe has become synonymous with youth for nearly thirty years.
Since the years that Frappe and Greek Coffee have monopolized the preferences of the Greek public, there have been memories of various recipes through which shopkeepers have tried to create more attractive drinks based on extremely restrictive choices. Here are five characteristic coffees of our youth that would be hard to find or even order today, but which were fine specialties in the 80s and 90s. Have fun - or not...
Five retro coffees from the greek coffee culture
Frappe with Ice cream: Those who are in their forties are sure to remember a coffee that ... haunted their teens. With espresso still considered by many to be a luxury, the 90s as a continuation of the 80s was the era of frappe, especially for young people. Because of its nature, the drawer is not suited for imaginative recipes, many cafes have resorted to unexpected combinations. One of these combinations was of course the ice cream frappe: one or two balls of vanilla ice cream were served in a wide glass of frozen frappe. The result was a refreshing and at the same time viscous and luscious beverage of undefined flavor. For many, however, ice cream scones may have been the first coffee of their life, at the beginning of their teens. It continues to be served in several Balkan countries, while a Chilean specialty, Café Helado, is close to its rationale for ice cream, although it is naturally prepared with espresso.
Irish Coffee: Irish Coffee is certainly not a Greek invention, but the fragrances that have been displayed in Greek cafes for years have been far from the authentic, flavourful and rich taste of Irish coffee. Typically, Irish Coffee was a filter coffee with a scant amount of alcohol and a little whipped cream - perhaps the only way for the coffee to make a move that never gained a fanatical audience in Greece, especially in the terms of coffee shops.
Greek Coffee with Milk: Greek coffee has been the exclusive cafe for all Greeks for years, until its dominance in the youth audience was overwhelmed by the frappe, and the Greek began to be considered "grandfather's coffee". However, in the late 1990s, Greek coffee made an unexpected comeback, once again conquering the young public, fascinated by the authenticity of its taste. In this context, new variations of Greek appeared, which had little to do with the old and traditional. One of them was Greek coffee with milk: double, not so heavy, served in a large mug and not in a cup, served with generous doses of milk and (occasionally) strained from its base. The result was a drink that, while holding the delicious DNA of Greek, was less bitter, lighter, and ultimately more dear to the youth.
Frappe with Baileys: Similar to the ice cream frappe, the Baileys Irish Cream frappe has been for years a spectacular serving of no striking raw material, but a way to make iced coffee a little more enjoyable as iced coffee was steady throughout the year. Rumor has it that this serving masked the bad taste of outdated coffee, and many 90s teens claimed to have grown up after ordering both coffee and alcohol!
Cappuccino: Although today a widespread choice for all time, cappuccino was the spearhead of the Espresso expansion in the late 80ies and early 90ies, when espresso was still looking for its public and the corresponding coffee culture was still under development. These first Greek cappuccino's were no different from today's, with the exception of the ... inexperience of the baristas of the time. Many coffee professionals have confessed that at that time, the know-how for a proper espresso and cappuccino was lacking, resulting in over-extracted and bitter espresso, too much milk to mask the taste of coffee and of course generous doses of cinnamon to mask the burned milk. Of course, nowadays nothing remembers those days and one would easily find a cappuccino that would be jealous of several Italian coffees.
Coffee fashions come and go - and the associated coffee culture is often, very slowly, shaped. For Greece in 2020, the five specialties we have described are definitely in the past, though for many their taste is a source of endless nostalgia.
