Coffee Explanations

How Greece Taught Me To Love Instant Coffee – The Story of Nescafe Frappe

by Darren Oliver

I remember when I tried frappe for the first time. A friend of mine (also a coffee lover) had just returned from a vacation in Greece. During a conversation, out of nowhere, he pulled out a can of instant coffee and said, “I bet you I’ll make you an instant coffee, and you’ll like it.” As a specialty coffee lover used to high-quality, lightly roasted coffee brewed with alternative methods, all I could do was smile with pity. “Okay, a bet on a bag of good coffee,” I replied.

That’s how I lost a bag of coffee, and that’s how I came to know frappe, a type of coffee created in Greece that today has become a staple of many coffee drinks in the best-known chains like Starbucks and Costa Coffee. So, being in Greece for the first time, I couldn’t deny myself the specialty of southern Europe. What is frappe, where did it come from and how do you prepare it yourself? Let’s go on this fascinating journey together.

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There are different types of Vietnamese coffee. Here’s an explanation of how they work!

by Nigel Ong

One of the most popular Asian coffees may be Vietnamese coffee. Based on French coffee traditions, it has since adapted to the palates of local Vietnamese and developed its own style and taste. 

Vietnamese coffee is also widely available, as the diaspora take the coffee styles with them everywhere. Unlike Kopi Luwak, Vietnamese coffee is more palatable to many and does not harm animals. This also makes it more popular.

In this post, I visited one of the local Vietnamese cafes around my city and sampled some Vietnamese coffee. I also explore some ways you can enjoy the coffee better, such as flavorings and food pairings. 

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by Nigel Ong

India first tasted coffee in 1670, when Baba Budan brought these beans from Yemen. Since then, the Indians have developed their coffee culture, distinct from your regular Western coffee traditions. 

One of the most common ways to drink coffee in India is as a Filter Kaapi. Filter Kaapi basically means filter coffee and is incredibly popular in southern India. With the migrations of Southern Indians worldwide, they brought their coffee culture along with them. 

In this post, I will sample a cup of South Indian Filter Coffee and then describe the taste. I’ll also explain some ways to enjoy the coffee, such as the drinking process and the right food to pair with the coffee. 

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by Darren Oliver

As a region, the Balkans definitely stand out on the coffee map of the world. Here you will find brewing methods that are not as popular in other parts of the world. As someone who enjoys new coffee experiences, I couldn’t help but try Greek coffee when I found myself just in this picturesque country. What is Greek coffee, how to prepare it, and how does it differ from Turkish coffee? Here’s what I learned during my visit to the Mediterranean.

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Maybe you’re wondering, did Starbucks and Rolex do a collaboration watch?

The answer is unfortunately, no. The real story behind the name is that different Rolex watch models have various nicknames based on how they look.

This watch is officially the Rolex Submariner Date 126610LV model, which was released in the year 2020. But here’s the deal! You can see that the bezel is a very bright green color that looks almost just like the Starbucks logo color. So it earned the nickname, Starbucks Rolex. (Some people also call it the Kermit Rolex.)

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by Lars H

I thought I had heard of most kinds of coffee. But strangely, I had never heard of flash coffee before, also known as flash brewed coffee. Flash coffee is a Japanese pour over coffee method that makes a cold, iced coffee.

It seemed interesting, but also confusing as to how it was different than regular pour over ice coffee. So I did some searching and found a coffee shop in Dallas that makes flash brew pour over coffee and drove their to check it out for myself. I asked the barista some questions about it and even took some photos so you can see for yourself how it works.

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by Lars H

Are you into the third wave kind of specialty coffee taste, with lots of sour and citrus notes? If so, you will love Merit Coffee! If you like more mainstream coffee notes like chocolate and nuts, you might not be as fond of the coffee there.

When I visited, I ordered a decaf Americano, a macchiato (the true Italian style that’s a shot of espresso with a spoon of milk foam), and a drip coffee. They are into the “coffee snob” notes and everything has a very sour taste. The drip coffee was described as Honduran with vanilla, rose and anise notes. The Americano had some citrus or fruit notes, but compared to the drip coffee it was more mainstream. Lots of people were buying bags of coffee beans that morning, which I rarely see at other shops. 

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by Darren Oliver

In one of our previous articles, we wrote about “plujka” coffee, a popular brewing method that was the only brewing method available in Poland during the socialist era, when access to high-quality beans was much more difficult. So how, in just 30 years since the political change in Poland, has it come to a situation where specialty coffee is available almost universally, in every major supermarket, and Polish baristas are very successful internationally? Today we would like to present some arguments for why every coffee lover should pay attention to Eastern Europe when looking at the world map.

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QUESTION: On my recent road trip, I had Breve coffee after a Barista recommended I try it. The coffee looks like a latte but tastes so much richer and more satisfying. I have since left the town, so I cannot talk to the Barista again. Can you explain what Breve coffee is and why it tastes so rich?

NIGEL ONG FROM CLEARLY COFFEE ANSWERS: You can consider Breve coffee (or Caffe Breve) as a variation of many coffee-with-milk recipes, such as Latte, Cappuccino, Cortado, and more. 

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by Darren Oliver

The history of the development of coffee culture in different countries is fascinating. By following history, we can see for ourselves how prevailing material conditions influenced the development of coffee-making methods. But what if conditions make it impossible for people to have access to any brewing method? This is exactly the situation we will look at in this article. So let’s learn together about the history of Polish “plujka” (or, in literal translation “spit-it-out”) coffee.

Coffee Under Socialism

To understand exactly what “spit-it-out” coffee is, we need to look into the complicated history of Poland. After World War II, Poland became a socialist state. Destruction after the war, an unstable economic situation, and a high susceptibility to crises meant that Poland was not one of the rich countries. Many things that might have been taken for granted in other countries were luxury goods. The same was true of coffee-making devices, which were already experiencing a boom in popularity in the West. In Poland they simply… did not exist!

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