Name: Iced coffee kefir frappé
Prep time: 5 min
Total time: 5 min
Ingredients: 250 ml brewed black coffee; 250 g plain milk kefir (Half a 500 g bottle.); 250 g ice cubes (About 12 standard cubes.); 1½ tbsp pure maple syrup (Honey also works; adjust the sweetness to taste.); 1 tsp vanilla extract (Start with 1 tsp; in a cold drink the alcohol in the extract does not cook off, so more can taste boozy.)

By Nik, founder of 東歐嚴選｜kefir.link and former chef · Updated 2 November 2026

Cold black coffee, plain milk kefir, maple syrup and vanilla go into the blender with ice and come out as a frothy, slushy glass that tastes like a coffee milkshake with a slight sour edge. Kefir is thinner than yogurt and a little more sour, so it brings creaminess and tang. This is the American café style of blended iced coffee, not the Greek original.

Prep time5 min

Total time5 min

Makes2 glasses

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One name, several drinks

Frappé comes from the French word for beaten, and it now names several different drinks. In France it can mean coffee blended with ice cream and ice, in America coffee blended with milk, sugar and ice, often under whipped cream, and in New England many people use it for a milkshake. In Greece it is a summer fixture: instant coffee beaten with a little water into foam, topped with ice and cold water, and served in a tall glass with a straw at cafés and beach bars. A popular story says it was invented at the 1957 Thessaloniki fair, but earlier mentions of iced instant coffee make that hard to prove. Taiwan has its own blended coffee slushes of instant coffee, milk and ice, and this glass swaps in brewed coffee and kefir.

How much ice makes a good slush

Ice decides whether the drink turns out slushy, watery or gritty. Too much leaves unblended chunks, strains the blender and waters down the coffee as it melts. A good rule is roughly equal volumes of ice and liquid, and here 250 g of ice cubes fills about the same space as the coffee and kefir combined. Blend until the ice has broken down completely, ideally in a blender made for crushing ice.

Sweetness, vanilla and flavour swaps

Add the maple syrup with a light hand at first, then taste and add more. Vanilla extract also needs restraint in a cold drink, because its alcohol does not evaporate and too much tastes boozy. In Taiwan, it is easier to find at baking-supply shops or online than in hypermarkets. For a mocha, add cocoa to the coffee and kefir. Cinnamon, pumpkin spice or maple extract can replace the vanilla, or keep the vanilla, add chai spice and sweeten with honey.