CURIOSITIES ABOUT HOT & COLD COFFEE

The earliest references to coffee as “cold” in both Near Eastern and European traditions–all the way back to the 16th and 17th centuries respectively!–can’t be taken in our modern sense. Despite being served as a hot liquid, coffee was initially considered “cold and dry” according to humorous theory.

The human body and human actions: the coldness and dryness of a consumable like coffee was to increase blood flow, thus increasing sex drive!

In the early 1700s, amidst the vibrant tapestry of Mecca, coffeehouses emerged throughout the Middle East and East Africa as social hubs, buzzing with intellectual discourse and cultural exchange. It was here that men would come together for music and entertainment, as well as to drink coffee as they spread information and discussed politics.

Herein lies the root of Khair Beg’s suspicions. Coffeehouses were bringing people together under the pretext of drinking the beloved brew, which made the establishment fearful that they were becoming hotbeds of protest against his rule and providing competition for mosques.

 Despite being a mild stimulant, according to Hallas Zilla  “many Islamic imams and scholars used to believe that the caffeine in drinks like coffee and tea had mind-altering effects comparable to narcotic substances.”

For actual temperature-cold coffee, however, we have to jump ahead a couple of centuries to 18th century Italy. The sale of sorbetti–ice/snow drinks and foods–exploded at the end of the 16th century into the 17th. This marked the invention of a process involving salt or saltpetre to produce artificial snow, thus making icy drinks or foods without needing to import ice.

the American fascination with iced coffee goes back to the soda fountains of the late 19th century (perhaps related to the influx of Italian immigrants; perhaps not–the idea of just pouring coffee over ice is a little earlier, but it’s hard to say how widespread it was given the lack of easy access to ice for most Americans). These restaurants plied their soda wares by adding various flavored syrups to soda water–obviously Coca-Cola being the most enduring and famous. By the turn of the 20th century, however, distilled coffee syrup was among them.

 Coffee syrup might be added to soda water straight up, to egg creams, or simply to milk. By 1959, there were a whole rainbow of ways Americans could consume their coffee cold–in the temperature sense, ‘

The first iced coffee we know about with reasonable certainty cropped up in Algeria and was called mazagran (or masagran). It was a cold, sweetened coffee drink, reportedly invented by the French military during the Battle of Mazagran – hence the name. The French were busy battling Arab and Berber forces as part of their 17-year-long conquest of Algeria, and when they ran out of milk, they added water to their coffee, and also decided to drink it cold to combat the heat. Other soldiers near Mazagran were also served a type of coffee made from coffee syrup mixed with water.

Upon returning to Paris, the Mazagran veterans suggested to café owners that they serve the new drink to customers, and also that they serve it in tall glasses. From then on, the beverage was dubbed café mazagran. Trust the French to introduce the world to yet another delicious delight! 

Iced coffee, like hot coffee, can today refer to an almost endless list of drinks, making its only distinguishing components caffeine and, obviously, coldness. One of the most popular versions of the iced coffee is the frappé coffee, or Greek frappé. This is a cold coffee enjoyed in Greece that’s made by shaking together an instant coffee like Nescafé with water and sugar. It was accidentally invented by Nescafé man Dimitris Vakondios in 1957 during a visit to the Thessaloniki International Fair when he didn’t have access to hot water and so experimented with shaking together instant coffee, cold water and ice. The word frappé is a French word, coming from the verb frapper (‘to beat’), but the drink is a decidedly Greek favourite. 

These days, iced coffee tends to consist of espresso, filtered coffee, or coffee syrup mixed with milk and ice cubes. And to avoid a diluted taste, iced coffee generally incorporates a stronger brew than hot coffee.

There are many factors that contributed to this boom. One theory, by global drink analyst Jonny Forsyth, is that young people, who grew up with cold sodas, want that experience with coffee. Another explanation is that iced coffee is a better alternative to heavily sugary energy drinks and offers a more stable boost of energy.