Mocha Coffee Recipe - The Spruce Eats

• This drink uses simple ingredients like coffee, cocoa powder, milk, and sugar.
• You can serve the mocha hot or turn it into a refreshing iced beverage.
• Topping the drink with whipped cream and chocolate shavings adds a fun, café-style touch.

Fans of coffeehouse mocha drinks will be happy to know that it's super easy—and less expensive—to make the beloved chocolate-coffee beverage at home. You only need a few ingredients and it's not much more effort than brewing a regular cup of coffee.

Simply combine your hot coffee with some cocoa powder, milk, cream, and sugar, top with some store-bought or homemade whipped cream, then get to sipping. Your wallet and your taste buds will thank you.

Everything You Need to Know About Buying a Coffee Maker

What Exactly Is a Mocha?

When it comes to coffee, the term "mocha" is a little confusing because it has a couple of meanings. One meaning of mocha is a type of coffee bean, as well as the coffee brewed from this bean. But in coffeeshop parlance, a mocha—also called a caffè mocha or mochaccino—is a coffee drink flavored with chocolate.

Mochas can be made either with brewed coffee or with a shot of espresso. They can also use either chocolate syrup, chopped chocolate pieces, or cocoa powder, as I do in my version here. Mix in milk, top with whipped cream, and you have a mocha!

Iced Mocha

Mochas can also be served cold. To make an iced mocha, dissolve the cocoa powder and sugar in the hot coffee, then refrigerate until the mixture has cooled. Stir in chilled milk and serve over ice.

Tips for the Very Best Mocha

• Use good coffee and cocoa powder: Your mocha will only be as good as the ingredients that go into it, so use freshly brewed coffee (a dark chocolaty roast is nice) and high quality cocoa powder. You can also substitute quality dark chocolate shavings or chocolate syrup for the unsweetened cocoa—just cut down on the added sugar in the drink if you use sweetened chocolate.
• Combine the ingredients well: To mix up your mocha, you can shake the ingredients together in a well-sealed jar or use an electric milk frother. Either way, be sure to shake or froth until the sugar has dissolved completely and the cocoa powder is well distributed.
• Make it your own: Experiment and dial in the amounts of all of the ingredients, using more or less sugar, cocoa powder, coffee, milk, cream, and vanilla.
• Make it for a crowd: This recipe makes one large cup of mocha, but you can easily double or triple the recipe based on how many people you are serving.

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