How to Make a Perfect Shaken Coffee Drink

Iced coffee is a year-round indulgence, if you ask us.

In March 2021, when Starbucks introduced its line of shaken espresso drinks, including the Shaken Espresso and Iced Shaken Espresso, the sweet, milky, frothy drinks were popular enough to earn spots on the permanent menu. Even still, these drinks aren’t new news — the Greeks and Italians have been basking under the summer sun imbibing shaken coffee drinks for decades now. But for us Americans who drink cold coffee year-round, the shakerato and frappé are ideal ways to enjoy a slice of European coffee culture in the states.

Former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz purchased the company in 1987 with the intent of bringing a version of Milanese  espresso bar culture ,  back to the United States. In Europe, coffee is meant to be savored from a glass and enjoyed with friends, never to be consumed to-go in a plastic or paper cup. And with the launch of its shaken drinks, Starbucks is, to some extent,  lacking credit and background to its obvious muses: the Greek frappé, and Shakerato.

Starbucks’ shaken espresso drinks are crafted with oat milk and loads of ice, while Italians are purists when it comes to their gastronomy and subscribe to a “less is more” mentality.   The ingredients are of the highest quality, and need no enhancement. “A shakerato must be just espresso shaken with ice and sugar, " says Daniele Zennaro, chef at Algiubagiò in Venice, Italy. “Anything else, and it’s no longer a shakerato.”

Regardless, Starbucks adding these shaken drinks to its menus has put two of my favorite chilled coffee drinks on radars stateside. Prior to leaving for my European summer travels earlier this year, I perched up at The Durham Hotel, in Durham, North Carolina, where I watched Mark Daumen, barista and manager of the coffee program, perfect a Greek frappé. The original drink calls for instant coffee, sugar, water, ice cubes, and condensed milk, all of which are shaken until the frothiness is just right.

You’ll also find European-inspired shaken drinks gaining in popularity in larger cities such as New York. Linden Pride’s buzzy breakfast shakerato at Dante West Village, which calls for fresh espresso, Bacardi, Mr. Black coffee liqueur,  banana liqueur, and a little cream, is a delight — and while enhanced with booze and extra ingredients, the texture of the drink is perfect. Just like in Europe, you can ask your barista to whip up these drinks on the fly because they really are that simple

While I’m not opposed to the shaken drinks menu at Starbucks, I think we could all use a little backstory on these epic coffee drinks — so here’s what you need to know first:

Related: 13 Coffee Cocktails to Keep You Going This Summer

How to make a Greek Frappé

A few summers ago, I spent a week on Star Clippers, a four-masted barquentine boat sailing around the Northern Cyclades. The biggest decision my friends and I had to make was where we’d post up near the sea for Greek frappés.

The origins of the delicious cold coffee drink are said to date back to 1957 in Thessaloniki, Greece, at the Thessaloniki International Fair, where Nescafé representative Dimitris Vakondios was preparing instant chocolate beverages with a plastic shaker for kids, and ran out of hot water. Vakondios improvised using cold water and instant coffee, and created a super sweet and foamy milkshake-like beverage that was coined the Greek frappé.

There are three variations on the frappé: Sketos (no sugar), metrios (medium sweetness), and glykos (super sweet). I can personally attest that a frappé without sugar is mostly a criminal act. “The best places in Greece don’t serve a black frappe because sugar helps achieve better foam,” says  Sotirios Tzanis, bar manager at Nōema Mykonos. “Foam is one of the main characteristics of a good frappé”

Related: How to Make Bad Coffee Taste Better

How to make a Shakerato

When it’s 98°F in Rome but it feels like 110, all I want is an iced coffee, as my body can’t process the thought of sucking down my usual doppio espresso. I cruise down to  Sciascia Caffè 1919, famed for blending coffee drinks with water sourced from a 2,000-year-old aqueduct, and order a shakerato. I don’t think the ancient water makes it any more of a stand-out, but I am instantly refreshed in the sweltering, crowded streets.

Simplicity at its finest, the shakerato is a shot of espresso (or concentrated coffee) shaken violently with sugar and poured into a glass. A well-made shakerato is all about the foam on top,” says Walter Fosco, bartender at Hotel Eden in Rome, who makes one of the most delicious shakeratos in the city. He notes that a shakerato is even better if you leave the shaker in the freezer prior to shaking, to chill the drink even further. “Do not forget, the caffè shakerato is best enjoyed in the iconic Martini glass,” says Fosco. The shakerato is essentially an espresso martini without booze, although now that I think about it, the martini glass is a great cameo. Is it an espresso martini or is it a shakerato? You’ll never know!

By shaking the ingredients, the coffee is aerated into a delicious, frothy, chilled, caffeinated drink. The technique also uses hot espresso, which helps dissolve the sugar more quickly. And  by using fresh espresso shaken in a cocktail tumbler with sugar and strained into a chilled glass, its flavors are better preserved so the coffee doesn’t lose its power. The shakerato’s origins remain a mystery, and Italians drink it in bars and cafes from Milan all the way down to the deep South.

“I like the shakerato because I love coffee,” says Zennaro. “If [enjoyed] at the end of the meal, a classic espresso is a must — but during the heat of the day, a shakerato gives you the pleasure of coffee but in a refreshing way,” says Zennaro. “What could be better than enjoying a shakerato on the beach at the Lido in Venice with your feet in the sand?” Wherever you end up drinking it it’s important to note that the shakerato is perfect as. I also learned this summer that shakeratos exist at every bar and cafe, even if not blatant on the menu — you just have to ask for it.

For more Food & Wine news, make sure to sign up for our newsletter!

Read the original article on Food & Wine.