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How to make a frappé

Frappé in long glass topped with cream, with stripy straw

How to make a frappé

Lulu Grimes

Recipes for this cold blended drink vary around the world – we've got a delicious iced coffee version, along with other refreshing alcohol-free cold drinks.

What is a frappé?

Technically there is no single recipe for a frappé – it means a cold blended drink, like a slushie (the name means ‘beaten’ in French). In Greece you may be served a sweetened coffee, shaken until frothy and poured over ice cubes; in France it may be coffee, ice cream and ice whizzed together in a blender; and in America it may be coffee blended with milk, sugar and ice, topped with whipped cream. A mocha frappé has a touch of chocolate added, but a frappé may not have any coffee in it at all – fruit juice blended with fruit and ice makes a fruit frappé.

Equipment and ingredients you will need

To make a slushie drink, you will either need a high-powered blender or something to make crushed ice with, such as a manual ice crusher or a snow cone machine (both available online), so you can mix crushed ice into the base.

You can sweeten your frappé with sugar, or use an unflavoured sugar syrup which is easier to dissolve – you can make this yourself with 100g sugar and 250ml water. Simply follow the recipe for our flavoured sugar syrup and leave out the flavourings to make a plain version.

Coffee frappé recipe

Serves 1

200ml strong coffee, chilled
50ml whole milk
1-3 tsp sugar syrup (see recipe above)
ice cubes
ice cream or whipped cream to serve (optional)

Pour the coffee into a blender with the milk and 2 or 3 handfuls of ice cubes. Add as much sugar syrup as you like, starting with a small amount – you can always stir more in at the end if you’d like it sweeter.
Blend until the ice is broken into an icy slush and is foamy. Pour into a glass, and add a scoop of ice cream or some whipped cream if you like.