This post and photos may contain Amazon or other affiliate links. If you purchase something through any link, I may receive a small commission at no extra charge to you. Any supplies used may be given to me free of charge, however, all projects and opinions are my own.
Orange mocha frappuccinos are a fun twist on the classic cafe mocha chilled drink made fluffy in a blender! Make an orange mocha frappuccino for the holidays or year round! Features luscious chocolate, coffee, and orange flavors to make a Zoolander inspired drink! The drink is no longer available at Starbucks, so curb your craving by making it yourself. If you don't want to do that, I have another hack, cause I like easy too!
I spend most of my days fueled by coffee. And that’s a regular day. During the hectic holiday season, I put my coffee intake into overdrive. Just like everyone else, I want to treat myself and those around me without breaking the bank. I've shared many coffee recipes with you over the years like vanilla caramel mocha lattes, cafe mochas for a crowd, dark chocolate white chocolate mochas, maple lattes, and this list goes on. I love coffee, what can I say?!!! I'm so excited to introduce you to my new favorite drink.......
Orange Mocha Frappuccino
This post contains affiliate links. I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe would be a good fit for my readers. This comes at no added cost to you!
—want the recipe right now? simply scroll straight to the bottom!—
So if you follow my travel adventures on social media, you might know that I am obsessed with the UK coffee company called Costa Coffee. Seriously.The.Best. I am actually a rewards member and subscribe to their newsletters. So when they announced their Christmas drinks, their orange mocha totally jumped out at me!
I can recall eating Terry's chocolate oranges as a little kid. I assumed everyone ate these tasty treats but looking back now, it might have been because my Granddad was British that we ate these. Have you ever had one? Or maybe those orange jellies inside a chocolate stick? If you have then you know that chocolate and orange really go well together. Remembering this, I decided to ditch the flavors that are common with the season like peppermint and gingerbread and go with mocha with orange which can go all winter long!
What you need to make a Chocolate Orange Frappuccino:
- strongly brewed coffee (use either an espresso or a dark roast, a cold brew- but either way try to keep it frozen or in the fridge before using)
- chocolate milk (this helps give a second depth of flavor to add even more of a chocolate punch)
- cream or ½ & ½ (you need this to add a bit of velvety smoothness and richness to the drink)
- chocolate syrup (because, chocolate.)
- chocolate chips (again with the chocolate, but having the little tiny chips adds to that feeling of eating chocolate oranges or chocolate orange candy sticks)
- My secret sauce to the orange syrup (see below for more detail)
- A powerful blender (think Vitamix or the Instant Pot Ace)
Let's talk blenders. First of all, I absolutely adore my Instant Pot for cooking. My Kitchen Aid blender was almost 20 years old and had seen better days (it was pretty much dead). My friend makes excellent margaritas in his Vitamix, but my wallet wanted something a little bit friendlier. So I purchased the Instant Pot Ace and it is amazing! The ice crusher alone is seriously cool.
For this recipe, you'll want to add the chocolate chips in with the ice cubes on ice crusher mode in the beginning. I found that if I tried to add them later, it just didn't work as well. You might need to use a spoon to dig some out from underneath the blade if it gets stuck. If your blender just isn't handling it, ditch the chips and substitute more chocolate syrup.
It's important to use a blender because you need to really break up all the chunks and add a lot of air to get that milkshake smoothie consistency. Maybe an immersion blender could get you to that point, but I just don't think it has the power. If you don't have a blender, you're not totally out of luck, see my hack below to see how to get around this.
What syrup should I use to create a mocha frappuccino with orange?
This recipe was not an easy one. I've had a few fails during recipe creation, but none as much as this one. Who would have thought??? I started out wanting to use true homemade orange simple syrup. It's absolutely delicious, it's so pretty in a jar, it makes great gifts.....but no, it totally sucks in a frappuccino mixture. I think that the orange peel still just gives off too much of a bitter taste, and it just wasn't meshing with the chocolate at all.
Next, I wanted to go to my other standard go to in my coffee drink recipes, flavored syrups. They are easy to have on hand, they last a long time, and they are fairly inexpensive. The orange though is so hard to get right. A lot of the syrups have added sugar, and you end up feeling like you are drinking a sickening sweet orange snow cone instead. I did see reviews that to use it in a coffee drink, this is the best flavor, but I decided I didn't want to risk it.
It was at this point that I just decided that it was really sad that Starbucks no longer offered it, but that somehow they knew the secret that I couldn't figure out. That's why they get the big bucks! A few days later, I was grabbing vanilla extract out of my spice cabinet and noticed the jar of orange extract and my interest was peaked. If regular vanilla extract tastes good in a basic frappuccino recipe, why wouldn't the orange extract work?
I almost didn't try it. BUT I have 3 out of 4 boys living at home right now, and they wanted to give it the good old college try. I decided it would be bad to quit and give up, so we gave my blender one last whirl. And there we had it. Perfection. Totally on point.
My secret tip for making frappuccino or other frosty coffee drinks
I don't care to add ice into a frozen coffee drink. I feel like it literally waters it down and I lose that deep coffee flavor I crave. So years ago, I started freezing coffee cubes. It's simple to do. Freeze any leftover coffee you have in an ice cube tray. When frozen, drop them into a ziplock bag for when you are ready to use them. It makes a world of difference in a homemade frappuccino.
If you don't brew coffee at home, simply grab some cold brew at the grocery store and do the method I just outlined above. Pretty easy peasy!
What's the hack for a Starbuck's inspired Orange Mocha Frappuccino?
So maybe you're a little too busy to be whipping up frappuccinos at home. I get that. It's a hectic season. So in order to make it super super super easy for you, I'm sharing this hack. Buy a simple frappuccino the next time you are at the Starbucks drive thru or grab a bunch of these to have on hand. Simply add in a scant ½ teaspoon of the orange extract and mix well. If you are using the bottles, you might need to gauge the amount, just remember about ½ teaspoon to 16 oz, so if it's a smaller bottle, you should calculate less.
While I was researching orange mocha frappuccinos, I discovered their connection with the cult classic Zoolander. Who knew male models loved frosty fruity coffee drinks so much? I had a hoot watching old clips from this part of the movie on YouTube.
I really like this version that I've created, but I realize other people might not want a cold drink during the winter. I live in Texas, and December can be hot y'all. Should I make a nice hot version of an orange mocha? Would you like that? Topped with whipped cream and rich chocolate, I don't think many of you would complain!
Don't forget to pin to your favorite drinks board on Pinterest!
📋Recipe
Orange Mocha Frappuccino
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups coffee brewed and preferably frozen into ice cubes
- ⅓ cup chocolate chips
- ¾ cup chocolate milk
- ¼ cup cream or ½ & ½
- 1 teaspoon orange extract
- ¼ cup chocolate syrup
Instructions
- If you aren't using frozen coffee cubes, crush ½ cup ice and chocolate chips up well and then add in the cold coffee, blending well. If using frozen coffee cubes, pat yourself on the back for thinking ahead and skip the ice. Make sure to add the chocolate chips at this step so you can get them chopped really well.
- Next, place milk, cream, orange extract and chocolate syrup in the blender, and blend really well.
- Pour into 2 glasses and top with fresh whipped cream, and chocolate syrup. Orange zest makes it very pretty. You can garnish with a Terry's chocolate orange slice, or a chocolate orange stick!
- Enjoy!
Peggy says
This looks yummy! But the rain is back in the PNW, so please consider a hot version. I'll save this until summer ~ I, too, love orange and chocolate together!
Thanks!
MrsMajHoff says
Peggy, sorry the rain has set in! I'll be sure to do the hot version for you! Merry Christmas!