How To Actually Make Mabel Juice
Hello friends! Today, I want to share some very special recipes with you that my team of expertise (coworkers) and I worked really hard on.
Every month, the coffee shop I work at has a theme with drink specials surrounding that theme. We have a huge chalk board wall that my boss draws different characters on, and this month, it’s Gravity Falls!
Now, I had a vision for these drink specials, as Gravity Falls is a show near and dear to my heart. I never get tired of watching it even though it’s been twelve years since it first aired.
However, I had a challenge–see my vision for this theme come to fruition while also having a variety of drinks customers will order and love! We started selling those drink specials today, which I thought was ironic, seeing as it’s Alex Hirsch’s birthday, and we’re off to a great start.
The best part about these drinks is that you can make them at home with mostly simple ingredients.
The first drink special is a Double Dipper Mocha. It’s a double shot mocha with chocolate drizzle, so you get a double espresso with double the chocolate. It’s easy to make espresso at home with a moka pot, and all you need to make chocolate syrup (don’t buy Hershey’s it’s not the same) is a 1:1 ratio of sugar and water with added cocoa powder. Add ¾ cup cocoa powder for every 1 cup water + 1 cup sugar–it’s a 3:4:4 ratio.
The prettiest iced mocha I've probably ever made!
The next drink special is Mabel Juice. It combines the sugary sweetness of vanilla syrup with fruity strawberry and a dash of ube matcha powder for energy. The best part about this drink is that the final product is hot pink in color, AND it doesn’t taste like if coffee and nightmares had a baby!
The simple syrup recipe is the same 1:1 ratio of sugar and simple syrup with added vanilla extract for the vanilla, and strawberries for the strawberry syrup. The strawberries take a while to cook down, but it is so worth it to have fresh strawberry syrup on hand for this refreshing drink! You can find ube matcha powder easily on the internet, and it’s a great energizer. Just add all the ingredients together with water and mix them up–so simple.
I didn't have a plastic dinosaur, but I did add an optional edible flower that tastes like a spicy bell pepper.
The next special is Stan’s Toffee Nut Cold Brew. Salted caramel drizzle and caramel cold foam are delicious together, and come together so easily! Cold brew is time consuming, as it takes no less than 12 hours to make, so it’s best to let it sit overnight. Make sure you use course ground coffee!
We use this salted caramel toffee sauce from Monin to drizzle on the sides of the cup before pouring the cold brew in. Then, we top it off with caramel cold foam, which you can make using roughly ⅛ cup of heavy cream with flavored syrup to you sweetness preferences–we typically do 3 pumps of caramel syrup in the shop. I recommend this caramel syrup from Torani for the cold foam. Then, just froth it up with a handheld milk frother until it forms peaks. Boom! Homemade cold foam!
One of the most popular specialty drinks we had this summer.
The next drink special is Soos’ Mystery Frap. This is a barista’s choice, where we add any flavor we have in the shop, of course, making sure the customer doesn’t have any food allergies first. I can’t say much about the flavors, but a frappe is made with 4 ounces of heavy cream, 2 ounces of espresso, four pumps of flavor syrup, and ice. Don’t forget the ice because this will turn into whip cream if you do!
The big question mark indicates that not even I, the maker, know of the contents. Just kidding! And we always make sure the customer isn't allergic to anything we put in their drinks.
Next up is Wendy’s Flannel Matcha. This is a matcha latte using our green matcha powder and maple flavored simple syrup, along with a shot of espresso. To be honest, I’m not big on matcha lattes, but this is delicious, especially when made with oat milk. You can use maple syrup at home when making this; just add it in with some milk and a scoop of green matcha, then mix it up (you can use the milk frother for this if you like your drinks frothy). It you prefer no froth, use a shaker bottle.
This drink is honestly my favorite of all of our specials. I wasn't a big matcha drinker before I tried this, but something about the maple and espresso together with the earthy flavor of the green matcha makes it taste like breakfast in a cup!
The final drink special is the Bill Cipher Chai. We use a banana fruit concentrate with our chai syrup and milk! That’s it. Easy-peesy.
I am not a fan of chai, but customers tell me they love this drink. My coworkers and I like to draw Bill on the side of the cup, too.
You can make almost all of these drinks hot as well. At home, I have a Keruig with a milk frother attached, but you can also you the handheld milk frother while heating your milk in a pan over the stove.
I am really passionate about combining my interests, so when my boss asks for ideas about themes, I love giving suggestions. Gravity Falls is a really fun theme for the summer, and I hope you try some of these drinks for yourself at home! Just remember not to put any plastic dinosaurs in your Mabel Juice ;)