Iced Mocha
Chocolate, espresso and cold milk over ice, smooth from the first sip to the last. The usual way of melting chocolate into a hot shot does not work cold, and fixing that is the whole recipe.
At a glance
- Espresso : milk
- 1:4
- Active time
- 6 min
- Total time
- 8 min
- Makes
- 1 tall glass
- Serve
- Over ice
- Kit
- Espresso machine
Ingredients
Note: For the syrup: 40 g Dutch process cocoa, 100 g sugar, 120 ml water, a pinch of salt. Simmer two minutes, stirring, then cool. It keeps two weeks in the fridge.
Method
-
Make the cocoa syrup
Whisk the cocoa, sugar, salt and water in a small pan over medium heat until smooth, then simmer for two minutes, whisking, until glossy. Cool and bottle.
Cocoa, not chocolate. This is the step that makes the drink work cold.
Simmer 2 minutes -
Syrup into the espresso
Pull a double espresso into a small jug and stir the syrup into it until combined.
25 to 30 seconds -
Milk over ice
Fill a tall glass with ice and pour in the cold milk. Streak a little extra syrup round the inside of the glass first if you like the look.
-
Chocolate espresso on top
Pour the chocolate espresso over the milk, stir, and top with whipped cream if you want the café version.
Why this works
A hot mocha is made by melting chocolate into the espresso. Try that for an iced one and the chocolate seizes into flecks the moment it hits cold milk. The reason is cocoa butter. It is solid below about 34°C, so melted chocolate dropped into a drink at 5°C sets almost instantly into small hard pieces that sink, stick to the ice and never dissolve. The drink tastes thin at the top and gritty at the bottom.
Cocoa powder avoids the problem. It is chocolate with most of the cocoa butter pressed out, and when it is simmered with sugar and water its solids hydrate and suspend in a syrup. There is so little fat that nothing sets when it gets cold, so the syrup stays smooth and mixes into cold milk like any other syrup.
Dutch process cocoa suits it best. Alkalising makes cocoa darker, less acidic and more soluble, which gives a rounder chocolate flavour that does not double up the espresso's acidity. The pinch of salt suppresses bitterness so the chocolate reads as richer.
Cold dulls sweetness and aroma, so an iced mocha needs a little more chocolate than the hot version would. Thirty millilitres of syrup to a double shot is a good starting point. Stirring the syrup into the hot espresso before it meets the milk makes sure it is fully combined while it is still warm and loose.
Variations
- Iced white mocha: white chocolate melted into warm cream as a sauce, which stays smooth because of the cream. See white mocha.
- Iced peppermint mocha: a few drops of peppermint extract in the cocoa syrup.
- Mocha cold brew: cocoa syrup stirred into cold brew with milk.
- Iced mocha frappé: everything in a blender with the ice.
Made it?
Ratings are the most useful thing you can leave. They tell me which recipes need another pass.
No ratings yet. Be the first.
Questions
Why does chocolate go lumpy in iced coffee?
Cocoa butter sets below about 34°C. Melted chocolate added to a cold drink seizes into hard flecks. Use a cocoa syrup instead, which has almost no fat.
Can I use chocolate sauce for an iced mocha?
Yes. Most shop-bought chocolate sauces are cocoa-based and stay smooth cold. Check that it pours from the fridge.
How much chocolate syrup goes in an iced mocha?
About 30 ml to a double espresso and 160 ml of milk. Cold dulls sweetness, so iced mochas need a little more than hot.
How long does homemade cocoa syrup keep?
About two weeks in a sealed bottle in the fridge.