Coffee & café culture
Iced Blended Coffee (Café Frappé)
قهوة مثلجة · qahwa muthallaja
Café frappé is the newest addition to Morocco's coffee ladder, a cold, thick, blended coffee drink that has taken hold in the modern coffee shops of Gueliz and other new-city districts as an answer to the summer heat. Built from espresso or strong coffee blended with ice and milk, it sits closer to a cold milkshake than to the traditional glass of nous-nous, reflecting the newer, younger café culture growing alongside the old.
- Type
- Blended iced coffee
- Served
- Cold, blended with ice
- When
- Hot afternoons, modern café culture
- Key flavour
- Cold, milky, coffee-forward
What Iced Blended Coffee is
Café frappé is strong coffee or espresso blended with ice and usually milk until thick and cold, closer in texture to a milkshake than to any of Morocco's traditional glass-poured coffees. It has grown popular in the newer coffee shops of Gueliz and similar new-city districts, where a younger, café-going crowd wants something cooling on a hot afternoon.
Unlike nous-nous or café noir, which belong to a coffee vocabulary inherited from French colonial café culture, frappé reflects a more recent, global coffee-shop influence layered onto Marrakech's older terrace tradition.
How it's made & served
Strong coffee or a double espresso is blended with ice, milk and sometimes sugar or flavoured syrup until smooth and frothy, then poured into a tall glass. Some cafés top it with whipped cream or a dusting of cocoa, following international frappé conventions rather than any traditional Moroccan technique.
It is served with a straw and drunk slowly over a long café sitting, much like the traditional coffees, but its cold, blended format makes it distinctly suited to the hottest parts of the day rather than the crisp morning coffee that nous-nous is known for.
In the glass, at a glance
- Strong coffee or espresso
- Ice, blended until smooth
- Milk
- Sugar or flavoured syrup, optional
- A tall glass and a straw
A flavour snapshot of what goes in.
When & where you drink it in Marrakech
Café frappé is found mainly in the newer, modern coffee shops of Gueliz and similar districts rather than the traditional terraces near Jemaa el-Fnaa, and it is very much a hot-weather order, popular from late spring through summer.
A café culture tour that covers both the old-city terraces and the newer coffee shops is a good way to see how traditional and modern Moroccan coffee culture sit side by side.
Cultural notes
Café frappé's rise reflects a younger, more international coffee-shop culture taking root in Morocco's newer city districts, sitting alongside rather than replacing the traditional terrace culture of nous-nous and café cassé described elsewhere in this guide.
It is a useful marker of how Marrakech's café landscape is changing: the old pavement terrace still anchors daily life for many, but a newer generation of coffee shops is layering global trends onto that foundation. Read more in our guides.
Frequently asked questions
Is café frappé a traditional Moroccan drink?
No — it is a modern addition, popular in newer coffee shops in districts like Gueliz, reflecting more recent international coffee-shop trends rather than the traditional French-inherited coffee ladder of nous-nous and café cassé.
Where can you find iced coffee in Marrakech?
Mainly in modern coffee shops in the newer city districts rather than the traditional terraces near Jemaa el-Fnaa, and especially during the hot summer months.
How is café frappé made?
Strong coffee or espresso is blended with ice and milk, and sometimes sugar or syrup, until thick and frothy, then served cold in a tall glass with a straw.