With the Frappuccino, the American coffee house Starbucks has succeeded in creating a real cult drink. We’ll show you that you don’t necessarily have to go to one of the branches to enjoy iced coffee, you can easily prepare it yourself.
Facts about Frappuccino:
- Frappuccino is an invention of the Starbucks coffee chain.
- The name Frappuccino combines the words frappé and cappuccino.
- The basic ingredients for a Starbucks Frappuccino are espresso, cream, milk, and ice cubes.
- A Grande-size frappuccino costs around 3.95 USD at Starbucks.
- 400 ml of the drink has 248 kcal.
Frappuccino – what is that?
A frappuccino is an iced coffee variation that consists of the basic ingredients of espresso, milk, cream, and ice cubes. The taste of the Frappuccino can be changed with different flavors such as caramel or chocolate syrups.
The term is a proprietary creation of the American coffee house Starbucks and is made up of the words frappé and cappuccino. Other coffee houses sell the same mixed drink as a frappé.
The original frappé is actually a Greek national drink made from instant coffee and ice cubes. Starbucks has been selling Frappuccino in a variety of flavors since 1995.
How do you make a frappuccino?
You don’t have to go to any Starbucks to enjoy a Frappuccino. You can get all the ingredients for this in the supermarket. It only takes about five minutes to prepare. Of course, It also has a vegan version.
Ingredients needed for two glasses (about 0.4 l):
- About 20 ice cubes
- A double espresso
- 150ml milk (as a vegan alternative, oat milk is the best option)
- A tablespoon of unsweetened cocoa powder
- Approx. 100 ml whipped cream for the topping (alternative: “plant-based whipped cream”)
- Optional: chocolate, caramel, or vanilla syrup
Step 1: Prepare espresso
Whether with a fully automatic or an espresso machine, that’s up to you. To start, you’ll need a double espresso, ideally from dark-roasted coffee beans. Then let it cool down for about three minutes.
Step 2: Whip the cream
You need about 100 ml of cream for two glasses of Frappuccino. Pour the liquid cream into a tall container and whip until stiff with a hand mixer. Alternatively, you can of course also use spray cream and dose as you wish. By the way: There is now also vegan cream for whipping, with which the whole thing works just as well. These versions are mostly based on soy, oats, or coconut.
Step 3: Mix espresso and milk
Put the cold espresso with the milk or milk alternative in a blender and mix both ingredients. If you don’t have a mixer handy, you can use a whisk or spoon.
Step 4: Add ice cubes
Add the ice cubes to the blender and blend again. The ice cubes are processed into crushed ice, i.e. very fine ice cubes, by the scissors of the mixer. You can of course also buy crushed ice directly if you don’t have a mixer. You can usually find crushed ice in the frozen section of the supermarket.
Step 5: Pour into the glass
Prepare two glasses, each holding at least 0.4 l. Now carefully pour in the mixture.
Step 6: Topping
After filling the glass, use a spoon to spoon the whipped cream on top. You can pimp up your Frappuccino with different toppings.
For example, with syrup or for even more refinement – fruit, small biscuits, or chocolate sprinkles are suitable.
Variations on the Frappuccino
In a nutshell, there are no limits to the preparation of a frappuccino. Here we offer you an overview of the most popular variations:
- Caramel Frappuccino:
One of the most popular variations. After mixing milk and espresso, add some caramel syrup. In the end, you can also decorate your frappuccino with more caramel syrup. The amount depends entirely on your taste. It’s best to test around a bit to get the perfect taste experience. - Frappuccino Coffee:
Instead of espresso, coffee is used for the preparation, decaffeinated coffee can also be used. - Java Chip Chocolate:
Another Starbucks classic. Before filling the glass with ice cubes, add 4 tablespoons chocolate syrup and 4 tablespoons chocolate chips. For the chocolate chips, you should use dark chocolate with at least 50 percent cocoa content. This makes the Frappuccino taste more chocolaty and not too sweet. - Strawberries & Cream:
Strawberries are used for the fruit classic. The iced coffee also works very well with frozen strawberries. Simply add the strawberries to the blender and blend for around 30 seconds. This creates a delicious strawberry coffee cream. In addition to cream, vanilla ice cream is also suitable as a garnish. - Frappuccino with fruit:
Instead of strawberries, you can use almost any fruit imaginable for your Frappuccino. Berries are particularly suitable, as they do not contain too much acid and can easily be processed into a cream with a blender. In addition to strawberries, raspberries, blackberries or currants are popular variations. - No-Coffee Vanilla Frappuccino:
You can actually make a no-coffee Frappuccino too. The vanilla variant is particularly suitable for this. Add 2 tablespoons of vanilla ice cream, 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract and 240 ml of milk (alternative), and a few ice cubes to a blender and puree everything. Then pour the mixture into a glass and top it all off with whipped cream.
How many calories does a Frappuccino have?
The sweet drink sounds like a real calorie bomb. However, since the frappuccino consists of almost half ice cube water, the number of calories is still within limits.
100 ml contains about 62 kcal. With a drink of 400 ml, you consume 248 kcal. For comparison: A black coffee contains zero calories, a cappuccino with around 180 ml and whole milk around 82 kcal.
