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Summer is finally here in Canada and it’s time to take advantage of the cold drinks! Cold coffee is actually my favourite, and if you love chocolate the way I do, then a homemade Starbucks Iced Mocha may be the perfect choice for you!
I love going to get my Starbucks fix as a special treat, but with prices rising, it can burn quite a large hole in your wallet! However, every now and again going out to eat or drink can definitely inspire you to try something new, and I give more details about this concept in my Make Cooking Fun! free motivational guide! When it comes to my coffee recipes, going out to Starbucks to try them out is always a fun experience, and I love to come home and try them out myself! Even if it’s not Starbucks, when I go to any coffee shop, my eyes automatically go to the “mocha” on the menu. Despite me loving caffe mochas so much, I can’t believe it took me so long to finally get around to sharing an iced mocha recipe! To beat the heat, I’ve finally crossed making my own iced mocha off of my bucket list, and if you’re just like me and want to make an iced mocha at home, then be sure to whip it up as part of your Live to Cook one-month challenge! Get started for free by signing up to my newsletter, plus you’ll have all of my latest recipes delivered right to your inbox!
Be sure to follow along as I prepare this chocolatey cold coffee delight by watching the video! I’d love it if you’d please subscribe to my YouTube channel if you haven’t already, and don’t forget to press the bell button so you’er notified when all of my new video recipes go live! Let’s get brewing!
What Is This Iced Mocha Recipe?
When I recreate Starbucks drinks at home, I like to use their description of
Our rich, full-bodied espresso combined with bittersweet mocha sauce, milk and ice, then topped with sweetened whipped cream. The classic iced coffee drink that always sweetly satisfies.
source: Starbucks.com
In fact, Starbucks has its own recipe for you to make the drink at home! I’ll be following the same procedures here, but I’ll also show you how to make your very own chocolate sauce and whipped cream so that everything is made from scratch!
You may be wondering what is in an iced mocha. Let’s see what are the elements in the Starbucks drink:
ICE, MILK, MOCHA SAUCE [WATER, SUGAR, COCOA PROCESSED WITH ALKALI, NATURAL FLAVOR], BREWED ESPRESSO, WHIPPED CREAM [CREAM (CREAM, MONO AND DIGLYCERIDES, CARAGEENAN), VANILLA SYRUP (SUGAR, WATER, NATURAL FLAVORS, POTASSIUM SORBATE, CITRIC ACID)]
source: Starbucks.com
I have to admit that this ingredient list is one of the smaller ones I’ve seen, which is a good sign! As you’ll see in the ingredient list, we’ve got all of these components and making it ourselves: chocolate sauce, ice, coffee/espresso, milk, sweetener and whipped cream - all for a fraction of the cost!
Tips for Iced Mocha Latte Starbucks-Style at Home!
- Letting the chocolate sauce come down to room temperature is key to ensure that it pours easily and to prevent the steam from spraying chocolate sauce all over if you shake the bottle to assist with the drizzle.
- The quality of the coffee will play a key role in the fragrance and flavor, so don’t pull your punches and make the best espresso or espresso-like coffee.
- Be careful not to overheat the chocolate or cream, or the chocolate may split.
Tools Needed to Make This Starbucks Mocha Recipe
If you’re lucky enough to have an espresso machine to brew your espresso, then by all means use that! I unfortunately do not have one, so instead I boil my water in my coffee maker and then brew my coffee in my French press. If all you have is a coffee maker and ground coffee, then that will be just fine.
How to Make Starbucks Mocha at Home
Scroll to the bottom of this post or press the “Jump to Recipe” button for the FULL PRINTABLE RECIPE CARD that will list all ingredient quantities and allow you to save the recipe for later. You can also scale the recipe based on how many drinks you want to make. The default serving size is 2 grande (16 oz) mochas.
For the Chocolate Sauce
- Heavy cream: This is also known as whipping cream. Basically, you want to look for cream that’s 30%-35% milk fat. You can’t use a lighter cream or else your sauce won’t thicken up and get the desired texture. You’ll notice that the chocolate sauce starts out thin and liquidy as if you were making a hot chocolate. However, with some patience, it becomes thick and smooth but still pourable!
- Chocolate chips: Melt in some chocolate chips or semi-sweet baker’s chocolate to create our smooth chocolate sauce.
- Vanilla extract: You don’t have to add this, but I find it really makes the difference in adding a wonderful aroma to your sauce!
For the Iced Mocha
- Milk: I’m using full fat dairy milk as this results in a rich and decadent drink, as the mocha - hot or cold - is designed to be!
- Whipped cream: You can always use whipped cream from an aerosol can if desired. However, I’ll be following my homemade whipped cream recipe and adding all the ingredients into my whipped cream dispenser. I actually purchased the whipped cream dispenser that they use at Starbucks, and this has really been such an incredible investment! The whipped cream is stabilized meaning it’ll stay nice and thick over your drink - just like at the coffee shop!
- Ice cubes: A mandatory ingredient for an iced coffee beverage! Use as much as you’d like. The more ice you add, the less strong the coffee will be.
- Water: Needed to brew the coffee.
- Espresso or strong coffee: Whatever you have on hand. If you’re using ground coffee, I recommend you use double the amount of ground coffee to espresso.
- Maple syrup: I’m Canadian and it’s a crime not to have maple syrup in your fridge! Maple syrup is easily my favourite sweetener now, and I’ve added some in here to bring the drink together. If you want to follow all the components of the mocha, you can sweeten your drink with my Quick Vanilla Syrup for Coffee!
How to Make This Easy Iced Mocha Recipe
For the Chocolate Sauce
Pour the cream to a saucepan and bring it up to a steam. Once it's steaming, add the chocolate chips and stir gently until the chocolate is completely molten. Pour the sauce to a squeeze bottle and let it cool down slightly before placing the lid on the bottle.
For the Iced Mocha
Prepare the espresso using an espresso machine. Alternatively, prepare espresso-like coffee using a French press.
Drizzle 2-3 Tbsp of chocolate sauce along the sides of the serving cup. Add the ice cubes filling the serving cup halfway up.
Then pour in the coffee until around the halfway point as well. Add a couple splashes of milk and maple syrup to adjust for sweetness and give the drink a stir.
Top with whipped cream and enjoy!
Questions You May Have!
What’s the Difference Between an Iced Mocha Latte and an Iced Mocha?▼
A latte - hot or cold - is a coffee drink that contains 1/3 part espresso and 2/3 milk, along with some sweetener, if desired. However, the base of a mocha is chocolate sauce, and a mocha is topped with whipped cream. Your mocha latte would be made with some chocolate sauce on the bottom and wouldn’t have the whipped cream on top.
I don’t have any coffee Machine! What can I do?▼
No problem! If you have no tools at all, what you can do is use some espresso powder instead. Simply bring water to a boil and add in your espresso powder, stirring well. You can follow the rest of the recipe as outlined.
Can I use a store-bought chocolate sauce?▼
Sure if you really want to! You can make the chocolate sauce in advance so that it’s ready for when you want to use it. However, if you’re really not in the mood to make your own. I really like this Smucker’s chocolate sauce and it’s not too expensive!
Can I use Non-Dairy Milk?▼
Of course! For a decadent Iced Mocha, I recommend you go for coconut milk and soy milk because they are creamier and richer, and will have a similar effect to the full fat cow’s milk that I’ve used in my recipe. If you want, you definitely can use almond milk or oat milk, but almond milk is very low in fat and will most likely result in a thinner drink. With regard to oat milk, I find the taste of oat is just too strong, and I don’t like to use it in my drinks.
Is there Caffeine in an Iced Mocha?▼
Yes, there is. In a grande Iced Mocha at Starbucks, there is 175 mg of caffeine. While I can’t measure out how much caffeine my recipe has exactly, keep in mind that there is caffeine in the brewed coffee or espresso, and if you’re using my Mocha Sauce recipe, then there’s some caffeine in that too. If you want to enjoy this drink in the evening but keep the mocha flavour, then you can use some decaf instant espresso to skip the caffeine!
Is The Iced Mocha Sweet?▼
Yes, an Iced Mocha is definitely one of Starbucks’ sweeter drinks. As you can see in the images, I purchased an iced mocha from Starbucks while making this drink to have a true comparison of the differences. I saved the Starbucks drink to enjoy the next day, and all the chocolate syrup ended up sinking to the bottom. I enjoyed it with a spoon, but I noticed that the chocolate sauce didn’t taste super chocolatey - probably because of the artificial flavours in there! My chocolate sauce is made with pure semi-sweet chocolate and heavy cream, so I’ll be honest with you and admit that the Starbucks drink is sweeter, but if you’re a chocoholic, then you’ve got a richer chocolate flavour - that’s the goal here!
It’s Cold outside and I’m craving Something Warm! How do I make a Hot Mocha?▼
It’s a really similar process and absolutely delicious! All the details on how to do this are in my Cafe Mocha recipe!
I’m in the mood for white chocolate. What can I do?▼
Now I prefer dark chocolate to white chocolate, but I have to admit that there’s a soft spot in my heart for some white chocolate! If you want an iced white chocolate mocha, then you can check out how to make a Homemade Iced White Chocolate Mocha with my recipe!
TREATS to PAIR with Homemade Iced Mocha
- Espresso Brownies with Peppermint Mocha Cream
- Nutella Stuffed Cookies
- No-Bake Peanut Butter Pie
- Arroz con Leche - Peruvian Rice Pudding
- Protein Rice Krispies Treats
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