frappe

Frappe is a term with multiple meanings in food and technology, reflecting its French origin from frappé, meaning iced or chilled. In culinary usage, frappé commonly refers to cold beverages, with the meaning varying by region.

In Greece and Cyprus, frappé (often spelled frappé in English texts) is a foam-covered iced coffee drink. It is typically made by shaking instant coffee with water and ice, sometimes sugar, until a thick foam forms. The resulting beverage is poured into a glass over ice and can be served with milk or sweeteners, depending on regional and personal preferences. It is widely associated with casual cafés and home preparation, and has many local variations.

In parts of North America, especially New England, frappé denotes a cold, milkshake-like beverage. A frappé in this sense is usually coffee- or chocolate-flavored and prepared with milk, ice, and sometimes ice cream, using a blender or shaker. The drink is commonly served in diners and cafés and is a familiar staple in states such as Massachusetts and Rhode Island, where the term is widely used to describe the prepared drink rather than a foam coffee beverage.

In the technology sector, Frappe refers to an open-source full-stack web application framework written in Python and JavaScript. It provides a set of tools for building database-driven applications and is known for its DocType-based data modeling. Frappe is the foundation for ERPNext, a suite of enterprise applications, and is used to develop custom business software and web apps.

Overall, frappé spans both classic cold beverages and modern software development, illustrating how a single term can cross cultural and disciplinary boundaries.