The weather’s getting hot, so more often than not, you will probably want something cold to drink. But when you go to a coffee shop or a juice bar, especially when you’re traveling abroad, are you sure you understand what’s on the menu?

For example, what’s the difference between a shake and a smoothie? If you’re unsure, read on and get familiar with beverages that may easily confuse you.

Milkshake

A milkshake, or simply a shake, is a sweet, cold dairy-based drink usually made with ice cream, milk or both. Outside the US, the drink is also called a thickshake, thick milkshake, or frappe.

The traditional way of making a milkshake is to mix scoops of ice cream and milk in a blender or drink mixer. Now, there are automatic milkshake machines that freeze and serve a premade milkshake mixture consisting of milk, sweetened flavoring and thickening agents. Milkshakes come in a variety of flavors, including vanilla, strawberry, chocolate and banana.

Smoothie

A smoothie is typically a blended beverage made with fruit – frozen fruit, fruit juice, fresh fruit, any kind of fruit. It’s not a dairy mixture, but a fruit party. That’s why, normally, it’s known as a fruit smoothie. Besides fruit, a smoothie can include crushed ice, honey and syrup.

Smoothies are often preferred by health-conscious people for their high dietary fiber, vitamins and antioxidants. And since they have a milkshake-like consistency but are low in calories and fat, they are also called “health shakes”.

Slush

A slush, also known as a slushy, is a flavored, frozen drink made by freezing non-carbonated juice, or other liquids such as coffee or alcohol. The major difference between a slush and a smoothie is that the main ingredients of the former are sugar and water, while in the latter it’s fruit.

A slush has a soft, wet slurry texture, thanks to the slush machine, which stirs the mixture at a constant speed. This way, the sugar and water molecules bond together before the water can freeze.

Frappuccino

A Frappuccino is a trademarked type of frozen coffee beverage sold by Starbucks. It consists of coffee or other base ingredients, such as strawberries and cream, blended with ice and other ingredients, and usually topped with whipped cream. Now, many coffee makers add various additional ingredients. But this type of drink, with coffee, ice and whipped cream, is commonly known as a Frappuccino.

Float

A float, or ice cream soda, is a beverage that consists of ice cream in a soft drink. It also has other names such as coke float, snowball or spider. Float flavors vary depending on the soda variety and the ice cream flavor, but the most popular ones are chocolate ice cream with carbonated water, and root beer or coke with vanilla ice cream.