Mocha Frappe
A thick, frosty blended chocolate coffee under whipped cream, closer to a coffee milkshake than an iced coffee. It needs cocoa rather than chocolate, and a pinch of thickener so it stays smooth to the bottom of the glass.
At a glance
- Coffee : milk
- 1:2
- Active time
- 8 min
- Total time
- 10 min
- Makes
- 1 large glass
- Serve
- Blended, cold
- Kit
- Blender
Ingredients
Note: Melted chocolate will set into hard flecks in an ice-cold drink. Use cocoa syrup or a chocolate sauce that pours straight from the fridge.
Method
-
Coffee, milk, cocoa and gum
Put the coffee, milk and cocoa syrup in the blender. Sprinkle over the xanthan gum and blend for five seconds.
Blend 5 seconds -
Add ice and blend
Add the ice and blend on high until thick and completely smooth, thirty to forty-five seconds.
Blend 30 to 45 seconds -
Streak the glass
Drizzle chocolate sauce round the inside of a tall glass, turning it so it runs down the sides.
-
Pour and top
Pour in the frappé, top with whipped cream and a last drizzle of chocolate. Serve with a wide straw.
Why this works
Two things go wrong with blended chocolate coffee, and both have physical causes. The first is chocolate. Cocoa butter is solid below about 34°C, so melted chocolate added to an ice-cold blender sets almost instantly into hard flecks that spin round and never dissolve. Cocoa syrup, made from cocoa powder with most of the fat removed, stays smooth at any temperature and mixes in like any other syrup. That is the reason every café mocha frappé uses a sauce rather than real chocolate.
The second is separation. A blended drink is ice crystals suspended in a sweet liquid, and given a minute they float and the liquid drains away beneath them. A small pinch of xanthan gum thickens the liquid enough to keep the crystals suspended, so the drink stays thick to the bottom. It is the same trick as the homemade frappuccino base. Chocolate syrup helps a little on its own, because its sugar thickens the liquid too, but not enough.
Cold brew or chilled espresso, never hot coffee, which melts the ice and turns the drink to a thin slush. Dutch process cocoa in the syrup gives a darker, rounder chocolate that does not double up on coffee's acidity.
Cold dulls sweetness, so a mocha frappé needs more chocolate than a hot mocha would. Forty millilitres of syrup is a starting point. Taste, and adjust.
Variations
- White chocolate mocha frappé: white chocolate sauce in place of cocoa syrup.
- Mint mocha frappé: two drops of peppermint extract.
- With ice cream: a scoop of chocolate ice cream instead of half the ice, which is richer and thicker.
- Non-blended: the same ingredients over ice, which is an iced mocha.
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Questions
What is a mocha frappé?
A blended iced coffee with chocolate, milk and ice, usually topped with whipped cream and chocolate sauce.
Can I use melted chocolate in a mocha frappé?
No. It sets into hard flecks in an ice-cold drink. Use cocoa syrup or a chocolate sauce that pours from the fridge.
How do I stop my frappé separating?
Add a small pinch of xanthan gum before the ice. It keeps the ice crystals suspended so the drink stays smooth.
What is the difference between a mocha frappé and an iced mocha?
A mocha frappé is blended with ice into a thick, frosty drink. An iced mocha is poured over ice and not blended.