Cappuccino vs Frappuccino: Not the Same Family

These two get compared constantly because the names rhyme. They are not variations on a theme: one is a defined espresso drink with a fixed structure, and the other is a brand name for a blended dessert.

A cappuccino

Espresso, steamed milk and milk foam, traditionally in equal thirds, in a cup of about 150 to 180 ml. Served hot. That is the whole thing, and the definition has been stable for a long time.

What varies is the foam. A traditional Italian cappuccino has a distinct, dry cap of foam sitting on the milk. A modern speciality cappuccino is usually poured wetter, with the foam folded through so the texture is uniform, which makes it closer to a small latte. Both are called cappuccinos and the difference in the cup is real.

It needs an espresso machine with a steam wand, or an espresso substitute plus a milk frother, which gets you most of the way at home.

A Frappuccino

A Starbucks trademark for a blended iced drink. The construction is a sweetened base, milk, ice and flavouring, blended to a smooth slush and usually topped with cream.

Coffee is optional. Several of the range contain none at all, which is the clearest signal that this is not a coffee drink with a temperature variation. It is a milkshake format that sometimes has coffee in it.

Because the name is a trademark, no other chain sells one. What they sell instead is a blended iced coffee under a different name, which is the same drink category.

Side by side

• Temperature. Cappuccino hot. Frappuccino blended with ice.
• Coffee content. Cappuccino always. Frappuccino sometimes.
• Sugar. Cappuccino has none unless you add it. A Frappuccino is built on a sweetened base and cannot be made without it.
• Size. Around 150 to 180 ml against 350 ml and up.
• Definition. One is a recipe anybody can make. The other is a product one company sells.

The drinks that actually sit between them

If what you want is a cold coffee drink that still tastes of coffee, the Frappuccino is not the only option and it is the sweetest one.

• Iced latte. Espresso, cold milk, ice. The direct cold equivalent of a cappuccino in spirit, though the foam is gone.
• Freddo cappuccino. Greek. Espresso whipped cold, topped with cold-foamed milk. Closer to an actual cold cappuccino than anything else on this list.
• Greek frappe. Instant coffee, water and sugar shaken to a dense foam, poured over ice. Older than the Frappuccino and unrelated to it.
• Caffe shakerato. Espresso shaken with ice and sugar and strained. No milk, no ice in the glass.

The naming, briefly

Cappuccino is generally traced to the colour of Capuchin friars' habits, which the drink's shade of brown was said to resemble. Frappuccino is a portmanteau coined in the 1990s by a Boston coffee chain, blending "frappe" and "cappuccino", and acquired by Starbucks along with that company.

So the resemblance in the names is deliberate and roughly thirty years old, which explains why two unrelated drinks are compared as often as they are.

The sugar, which is the real difference

A cappuccino made with whole milk and no additions contains only the sugars naturally present in the milk, which is a modest amount. Nothing is added unless you add it.

A blended iced coffee is built on a sweetened base and finished with syrup and often cream. Sugar content in the larger sizes routinely runs to several times what is in a cappuccino, and in some flavours it is comparable to a dessert.

This is not a criticism of the drink so much as a description of what it is. It is sold and priced as a treat, and treating it as a coffee that happens to be cold is the mistake. If you want a cold coffee daily, the iced latte and the freddo are the everyday drinks and the blended one is not.

Ordering a blended coffee that tastes of coffee

Most chains will make the drink less sweet if you ask, and the levers are predictable.

• Ask for fewer pumps of syrup. Halving it is usually still sweet.
• Ask for an extra shot, which pushes it back toward tasting of coffee.
• Skip the cream, which is a large part of both the texture and the total.
• Order the smallest size. Sugar scales with volume and these drinks scale a long way.

Making a blended iced coffee at home

Easier than it looks and much easier to control.

Blend two shots of espresso or a strong moka pot brew with about 120 ml of milk, a cup of ice and sweetener to taste. A frozen coffee ice cube instead of a plain one keeps it from watering down as it sits.

The texture problem people hit is that domestic blenders leave it slushy rather than smooth. Blending longer than feels necessary fixes it, and a spoonful of condensed milk or a small amount of xanthan gum will hold it together the way a commercial base does.