starbucks explained: the caramel macchiato & frappuccino

Have you ever wondered how Starbucks baristas make frappuccinos? When you look at a frappuccino, how is that consistency achieved? When I look at fraps, I just think they look so smooth. I know that when I try to make that stuff at home, I always get a choppy consistency. What even is a frap and how is it made at Starbucks? What is a cream frappuccino? Is there espresso in frappuccinos? Coffee in frappuccinos? So many questions. What is a caramel macchiato? In my last video, we discussed what espresso is, what lattes are, and the difference between lattes and regular brewed coffee. Now we can take a look at a caramel macchiato. What makes them different from lattes at Starbucks? Now let's get started. Actually, before we get started, let me just say that I am not a coffee professional and this information only really applies to Starbucks. This information may help you at other coffee shops. In other words, Starbucks is kind of like its own little world. Okay, anyway, so the caramel macchiato. A caramel macchiato is fancy. It's sweet. It's my favorite drink to make. Let's break it down based on all of the ingredients. First, there is vanilla syrup, then milk, ice, espresso, and caramel drizzle. Simple, right? Macchiato means marked slash stained in Italian, which I guess is where Starbucks came up with the idea for this drink. Because if we want to be super technical here, a macchiato in the coffee world is espresso with a dollop of steamed milk on top. Okay, not like a dollop, but you know, just a tiny amount, like a little scoop of steamed milk, more like foam on top, so that the espresso could be marked. You can actually get a drink like that at Starbucks. Just ask for an espresso macchiato. Ultimately, caramel macchiatos are just super fancy drinks that are layered, but if we think about it, they're really just vanilla lattes. A nice caramel macchiato will get one less pump of vanilla syrup on the bottom, which means that it technically does not have the same amount of syrup that a vanilla latte would, so keep that in mind. You could just ask for extra vanilla syrup if you want it to be a little sweeter. Nevertheless, I love caramel macchiatos. I love to drink them layer by layer. They're always a go-to item for me if I never know what to get. I'll quickly mention hot caramel macchiatos. You can't really see in my videos, but I'll insert a picture here. The steamed milk will get marked by the espresso in the hot version. I usually make sure there's a little more foam in these drinks, just so the drink gets marked correctly and the caramel drizzle can sit on top and not, you know, fall to the bottom. Again, I hope this information makes sense. Starbucks is complicated, but notice how a caramel macchiato is different from an actual macchiato? The drink that exists in the coffee world? Oh, I also have the apple crisp macchiato here. The apple brown sugar syrup slapped, but it was only seasonal. Here, the apple crisp macchiato is made with the same format, just with the apple brown sugar syrup and an apple spice drizzle on top. I bring this up because if you're confident enough, you can definitely swap out the vanilla syrup in caramel macchiatos for any other syrup you want. Caramel macchiatos, are they lattes or not? I'll let you decide that one. The frappuccino, the blended beverage. You've probably heard of a caramel frappuccino, mocha frappuccino, vanilla bean frappuccino. Let's be real, these drinks are good. If you love sweet drinks, where you can barely taste coffee or even get no coffee at all, you'll like this drink. These drinks are also good to give to a kid. I used to drink mocha frappuccinos when I was 11. They're insanely sweet. I'm talking a grande size or a medium has 51 grams of sugar, but we're not here to talk about nutrition facts. So why do I bring this up? Well first, we're going to talk about what the ingredients are for this drink. A frappuccino has milk, sometimes frappuccino roast, flavor syrup, ice, and base. Frappuccino roast is the coffee part. In its simplest form, it's powdered coffee that gets mixed with water. This frapproast gets pumped into the frappuccinos that contain coffee and give them caffeine, of course, and the coffee flavor and color. This is what making frappuccino roast looks like. It's literally just me stirring the powder and filtered water. A good way to tell if a frappuccino has coffee in it is its color. A coffee frappuccino, mocha frappuccino, caramel, java chip. You'll notice that these frappuccinos have a beige tan color. We'll compare these to a cream-based frappuccino next. A cream-based frappuccino is a frap that has no coffee in it. Simple. I actually don't know if it's cream or creme, but I'm just gonna say cream. The first step of this drink is milk since there's no frappuccino roast. On the menu, there's a vanilla bean, strawberry, and matcha frappuccino. Notice how these fraps have vibrant colors. Well, not vibrant, but, you know, they're colorful. They don't have the brown tones to them. We'll accept the double chocolate chip frappuccino because it has mocha sauce in it. Otherwise, that's the key to knowing if there's coffee in the drink. We know the different flavor syrups that can go into a frappuccino, right? Well, besides the standard menu drink items, you can customize a frappuccino just as much as you'd like. Okay, so what I'm gonna say is controversial. Just kidding, but honestly, honestly, frappuccinos need ice. They need ice to blend. Ice cubes are essential in frappuccinos because it helps make the size drink that you want. It will also achieve a good consistency when it has the standard scoop of ice. Like, if you ask for light ice, the drink will be soupy and the amount won't fill the entire cup. Ask for extra ice and the drink is extra thick, so the normal amount of ice is recommended. But again, that's just my opinion. Now, remember I said that frappuccinos have a lot of sugar? What helps contribute to that is the base. Depending on if the drink is coffee or cream-based, it will contain its respective base. The base helps blend the drink, which is what gives it that smooth consistency. It also helps thicken it up. It's important to note that the base is key to the frappuccino. Otherwise, the drink won't taste as sweet and will be choppy when you drink it. Here's a little tip. A mocha cookie crumble frappuccino is a java chip frappuccino layered with extra whipped cream and cookie crumbles. A caramel ribbon crunch frappuccino uses a dark caramel sauce and is also layered with extra whipped cream and caramel crunches. Toppings. I forgot what they're called. So now we've gone through all the basic ingredients of a frappuccino. I hope this helps you visualize the ingredients that go into your drinks and helps you with which type of frappuccino is best for you and is the caramel macchiato for you and how you can customize it. If you have any questions, feel free to drop it in the comment section and let me know what drinks you would want to see explained next. Thanks so much again for watching and I'll see you in the next video. Bye!