Who​ ​wants​ ​a​ ​cold​ ​cappuccino?​ ​Starbucks​ ​and​ ​an​ ​Athenian​ ​summer​ ​dream

When Starbucks introduced ‘cappuccino freddo’ to their menu in 2016, a group of Greeks started a petition requesting the coffee chain to acknowledge the drink’s Greek origin. And in fact, despite its Italian name, this iced coffee beverage did originate in Greece, where it remains extremely popular. A cappuccino freddo is a strong coffee prepared with three shots of espresso and it seems to be essential in maintaining a level of activity in the extremely hot Athenian summer. Since its recipe is not much of a secret (espresso over lots of ice topped with cold milk foam), it’s always been a mystery as to why it has never been adopted outside of Greece.

The Greek obsession with iced coffee starts in the 80s, with the appearance of frappé coffee, invented during an international trade fair in Thessaloniki, when a Greek representative of Nescafé desperately wanted to drink some coffee but had no kettle to prepare it. In an inspired moment, he put coffee, sugar and ice in a shaker and made an unexpectedly creamy and flavourful drink which came to dominate the Greek market. Cappuccino freddo is, in fact, an evolution of this version of frappé coffee. My question about the greek-specificity of cappuccino freddo was partially answered when Starbucks introduced the drink in the UK.

Starbucks’ cappuccino freddo is remarkably faithful to its Greek origins: strong and creamy, cool and sharp: just like something you’d expect to find in an Athenian cafe. True, it’s noticeably more expensive, but that’s to be expected. When I heard about the product launch in the UK I had to try it! As I sipped from my glass, I realised there was an essential aspect of the experience missing. What Starbucks was not able to replicate was the very specific coffee culture one finds in Greece. The culture of slow coffee drinking fits with the Starbucks brand, but the general culture of coffee consumption is different in the UK. If in Greece the freddo is to be savoured, in the UK it’s a quick shot. The product fits with the brand from the perspective of the company, but in its consumption it’s a mismatch. In Greece, one of the primary etiquettes in cappuccino freddo-drinking, for example, is that you take your time, never finishing drinking your coffee before the ice cubes melt. That allows the milk to pleasantly mix with the coffee and at the same time gives time to chat with friends, check Facebook notifications, or lazily daydream. So Starbucks might retained the name and the recipe of the product but they were not able to import the coffee culture the product is part of.