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We love a mocha frappucino but with two of us ordering one even just once a week we were spending $40 a month on these. Now that we make them at home we are saving so much money. Of course, we still occasionally splurge on the real thing.

Not only that, but a coffee shop frappe can also cost a couple hundred calories. This homemade version with less sugar and 2% milk (plus a slightly smaller serving size at about 10-12 ounces each) brings the calorie count down to a place where you can afford to indulge.

We have also taken to making our own syrups so we know exactly what is going into this. Syrups are so easy. Just make sure you make them in advance so they have had a chance to cool before using them in an iced drink.

I’ve posted about making mocha frappes before but with a brand new summer it was time to revisit the frappe and see if we could make this as close to a copycat Starbucks recipe as possible.

Homemade Mocha Frappe

Servings

servings

Calories

kcal

Sugars per serving

grams

Total time

minutes

I have been studying the baristas at Starbucks for months and this is about as close as I can get to replicating a mocha frappucino. They seem to use more syrup, but in testing we found too much vanilla syrup made it too sweet. We have been making this almost daily this summer and saved so much money in the process.

Ingredients

3/4 c. strong brewed coffee
1/2 c. milk
12 oz. ice, crushed is best
2 T. chocolate syrup
2 tsp. vanilla syrup

Directions

Place ice in a strong blender (I use a Ninja)
Add coffee and milk
Add syrups
Blend for 30 seconds or until you have reached a smooth milkshake like consistency

Notes

Calories based on 2% milk
Freezing your milk in cubes for an hour or so first will thicken texture
See additional tips in the post below

In testing multiple versions of this recipe we found a couple keys to getting this as close as possible to coffee stand mocha frappes (without resorting to adding thickeners):

Starting with crushed ice makes it easier to blend to a nice consistency.
If halving this recipe and using a single blender cup, be sure to add the syrups last so that the syrup isn’t stuck to the bottom of the cup when you flip it over to blend
Use a powerful blender and let it run for awhile.
If using a single blender cup, stop and shake up the contents once or twice to ensure everything is evenly blended.
You can add a little thickness and creaminess by substituting half the milk with half and half
We have also experimented with omitting the vanilla syrup and replaced half the milk with vanilla creamer.
Adding a teaspoon or so of instant coffee or instant cold brew powder can enhance the coffee flavor.
Make sure all your ingredients are cool so you don’t melt the ice with your liquids. Using cold brew concentrate is a great option for this recipe.
Substitute the syrups with other flavored coffee syrups (like almond, or Irish cream) to change this up.