Coffee Cabinet (Rhode Island Coffee Milkshake)
American · Desserts · Drink · Vegetarian
A cabinet is what Rhode Island and the nearby corner of Massachusetts call a milkshake: milk, syrup and ice cream spun thick. The coffee cabinet is the local favourite, built on coffee syrup and coffee ice cream. Elsewhere in New England the same drink is a frappe; in most of the country a “milkshake” without ice cream would be a different thing entirely.
Some shops use vanilla ice cream and let the syrup carry the coffee; both are served.
Untested: not yet made in this kitchen. It is here for the Coffee Milk and Coffee Syrup page.
Ingredients
- 3 large scoops (about 1½ cups, 200 g) coffee ice cream, or vanilla
- ¾ cup (180 ml) cold whole milk
- 3 tablespoons coffee syrup, Rhode Island style
- Whipped cream and a few chocolate-covered coffee beans, optional
Directions
- Let the ice cream soften on the counter for 5 minutes so it blends without extra milk.
- Put the milk and syrup in a blender, add the ice cream and blend on low just until smooth and thick, 20 to 30 seconds. Over-blending melts it thin.
- Pour into a tall chilled glass. Top with whipped cream and coffee beans if you like.
Notes
The name Why “cabinet” is not settled. The usual explanations are that the blender, or the syrups, were kept in a wooden cabinet behind the soda-fountain counter; none is documented. In Boston and most of New England the same drink is a frappe (said “frap”); an old-style New England “milkshake” was milk and syrup shaken with no ice cream at all. Coffee or vanilla ice cream? Wikipedia’s coffee-milk article describes the cabinet with coffee ice cream; Yankee magazine describes coffee milk blended with vanilla. Both are made. Coffee on coffee is the stronger drink. Where to have one Rhode Island diners, dairy bars and pharmacy lunch counters; Delekta’s Pharmacy in Warren was serving cabinets before the Second World War. The Newport Creamery chain’s “Awful Awful” is the same idea made with ice milk. The photo An espresso milkshake with whipped cream and coffee beans from a cinema chain in Texas, standing in for a Rhode Island coffee cabinet; the drink is the same idea.