How we make freddo espresso at our coffee roastery
A printable guide for our Italian friends, from Rizopoulos Coffee in Athens.
In Greece, freddo espresso is the cold coffee we drink all year round: a double shot of espresso, shaken cold with ice, served over more ice in a tall glass. No milk, no syrup, no water to dilute. Every café in the country serves it, and most Greek homes know how to make it.
What you will need
- An espresso machine and a grinder, with filtered water (never tap).
- A 250 ml stainless steel shot pitcher with measurement lines inside. buy online →
- A stainless steel shaker with a half-perforated strainer lid. buy online →
- A Greek frappé mixer — the small electric drink mixer with two whisk discs on a vertical shaft. It is the one tool you may not have at home; you will find it in every Greek bar. buy on amazon.it →
- Chunky ice cubes, about 40 mm tall — the round, bar-style ones. In Greece they are sold bagged at any supermarket; outside Greece, look at specialty ice retailers or cocktail equipment shops. The small ones from a home freezer tray will melt in the hot espresso and leave you with a watery drink.
- A tall 300 ml glass. buy on amazon.it →
The recipe
- Pull a double espresso. 18 grams of ground coffee into the machine, about 36 grams of coffee out, in 25 to 32 seconds. The coffee falls into the shot pitcher.
- Place 2 ice cubes inside the shaker. Two — not more, not fewer. Pour the espresso straight from the pitcher over the ice cubes.
- Froth on the frappé mixer. Hold the shaker at a 30 to 45 degree angle first, so the discs reach the bottom. Then turn the shaker upright (90 degrees). Finally, move it gently up and down. Total time 30 to 50 seconds, until the shaker feels cold in your hand and the foam rises to the holes of the strainer.
- Place 3 more ice cubes inside the tall glass. Five ice cubes in total: 2 in the shaker, 3 in the glass.
- Pour from the shaker into the glass over the ice cubes, fairly quickly. The fast pour builds a little extra foam on the surface.
- Wait 1 to 2 minutes before drinking. You should see two clean layers: dark coffee at the bottom, foam 1.5 to 2 cm tall on top. All ice submerged in the coffee, none poking above.
If you take sugar, place it inside the shot pitcher before you pull the espresso, never after. The hot coffee dissolves it instantly. Stir with a metal spoon, not a plastic one.
If something is not quite right
- The foam is taller than 2 cm. You frothed it a touch too long. Next time, stop the mixer earlier, the moment the foam climbs to the strainer holes.
- Almost no foam, ice cubes poking above the surface. You frothed it too little. Continue until the shaker feels cold in your hand.
- The coffee tastes watery and weak. Your ice cubes are too small. Home freezer cubes melt in the hot espresso before they can chill it. Use the larger ones sold in bags.
Which coffee to use
Any espresso blend with body and a clean acidity will work. At our roastery we drink freddo with our Sweet Amber blend, or with single-origin Honduras or Guatemala — the same coffees we would pull hot.