Caramel Brulée Latte {Starbucks Copycat}

Do you dream about the Starbucks Caramel Brulée Latte in the off-season? You may only be able to order this drink during the holiday season, but with my easy copycat recipe, you can make the sweet and toasty latte any time of the year!

Jump to:

• 😍 What is a Caramel Brulée Latte
• ❓ How is caramel brulée sauce different than caramel sauce?
• ❤️ Why you'll love this recipe
• 🗒 Ingredients
• 👩‍🍳 How to make caramel brulée sauce
• 🥣 How to make caramel brulée topping
• ☕️ How to make Caramel Brulée Latte
• 🧊 Can I make this an iced drink?
• 🎉 Variations on recipe
• 🧋 More seasonal Starbucks copycat drinks
• 📖 Recipe
• 💬 Comments

What happens when the most wonderful time of the year ends? Well, you can no longer order the holiday drinks at Starbucks for one.

Some of the seasonal drinks make sense... Most people wouldn't want to drink an Iced Gingerbread Chai in the middle of summer. And a Sugar Cookie Latte just screams holiday season.

But the Caramel Brulée Latte? If you're anything like me, you crave it year-round, whether Santa Claus is coming to town or not.

But sadly, you can no longer order the Caramel Brulée Latte at Starbucks once the holidays are over. But you CAN make your own copycat version at home!

😍 What is a Caramel Brulée Latte

If you've never had the chance to try the Starbucks Caramel Brulée, you may be wondering what goes into it. It's actually quite simple!

According to Starbucks, the drink consists of their "signature espresso, steamed milk and rich caramel brulée sauce finished with whipped cream and a supreme topping of even more caramel brulée bits."

If you're a coffee lover and like your coffee with milk and sweet and toasty caramel flavor, this is the latte for you.

❓ How is caramel brulée sauce different than caramel sauce?

Just from a simple taste test, you'll definitely note that the Caramel Brulée Latte tastes a bit different than a regular caramel latte or macchiato.

The brulée has a richer flavor; almost a bit toasted, like the caramelized sugar on top of a creme brûlée. It also tastes more full-bodied caramel-y to me.

I always look at the ingredient lists Starbucks provides to guide my recipe development and the lists for the two caramel sauces give a lot of clues.

Rather than using cream or milk like their caramel sauce, the caramel brulée sauce only contains skim milk powder for dairy.

I've never made a caramel sauce without liquid dairy, but I decided to give it a try. OK, more like 25 tries. I made this sauce A LOT to get it tasting as close to the Starbucks' version as possible!

❤️ Why you'll love this recipe

If you miss the Caramel Brulée Latte in the off-season or you just want to be able to make it at home whenever you want, this is the recipe for you.

This drink recipe is a bit harder to make than the typical Starbucks copycat recipe since you'll most likely need to buy the caramel brulée sauce at home as opposed to purchasing it.

But once you have the sauce made, you can enjoy a latte in just minutes, whenever you want! And it tastes just like the version you get in the coffee shop.

🗒 Ingredients

This latte is super easy to make with fairly simple ingredients, especially once you have your caramel brulèe sauce. I also make the homemade caramel brulée topping, but if you skip this or use a store-bought toffee, the drink will still be delicious.

Here's everything you need to make the drink (be sure to view the recipe card at the bottom of this post for ingredient amounts and full recipe instructions):

• Brewed espresso: or strong coffee
• Caramel brulée sauce: recipe shared in this post or store-bought. Caramel brulée sauce isn't as readily available as regular caramel sauce, but you can get the sauce Starbucks uses (it's usually pretty pricey though). This Dulce de Leche Syrup can also be a good alternative. Another option is to add a few drops of this caramel brulée flavoring into caramel sauce or regular caramel syrup.
• 2% milk: or dairy/non-dairy alternative of your choice
• Whipped cream: for topping
• Caramel brulée topping: recipe shared in this post or store-bought toffee bits

If you're making your own caramel brulée sauce, here's everything you need:

• Skim milk powder
• Hot water
• Granulated sugar
• Vanilla extract

And if you're making your own caramel brulée topping, here's what you need:

• Granulated sugar
• Water

👩‍🍳 How to make caramel brulée sauce

Let's get started on the caramel brulèe sauce first, which is the most difficult part of the whole recipe. But if you've ever made caramel before, it should be a breeze for you!

To start, combine the milk powder and hot water in a small bowl. Stir well to dissolve the milk powder completely. Set aside.

Add the granulated sugar to a heavy bottom saucepan over medium heat.

That's right; don't add water or anything else.

Stir the sugar continuously until it melts and turns a deep amber color.

This process will likely take about 7 minutes.

I like to let my sauce darken a little bit more than I do the typical caramel sauce since I want it to have a deeper, more toasted flavor.

Now, lower the heat to low and carefully pour the milk powder/water mixture into the caramelized sugar.

Take caution when pouring as it will bubble and steam vigorously. The mixture may start to seize, but with continuous stirring, it will become a smooth sauce again.

Continue to heat and stir for another 2-3 minutes before removing from heat and stirring in vanilla extract.

Let the caramel sauce cool in the saucepan for a few minutes before pouring it into to a heatproof container or mason jar to store.

It will thicken further as it cools.

The sauce should keep fresh in your fridge for about 2 weeks. Note that it will likely harden in the fridge and you'll likely need to heat it in the microwave to thin it out a bit before using in the latte.

Hint: this caramel sauce is also absolute perfection drizzled on top of ice cream!

🥣 How to make caramel brulée topping

The crunchy topping on top of the Starbucks Caramel Brulée Latte is really just caramelized sugar AKA caramel brulée topping or caramel brulée crumbles.

Starbucks uses both sugar and corn syrup to make theirs, but I find that you can get the job done with just sugar and water.

If you don't care about the topping, you can omit it or use toffee bits instead.

Start by placing a piece of parchment paper on a baking sheet.

To make the topping, combine granulated sugar and water in a heavy bottom saucepan over medium-high heat.

Stir gently to dissolve the sugar, ensuring that sugar is completely wet.

Once sugar is dissolved, stop stirring and allow mixture to come to a boil. You can swirl the pan gently to ensure even caramelization. Let cook until mixture is a dark amber color, about 5-7 minutes.

Remove from heat and quickly pour the hot caramel onto prepared baking sheet, spreading it into a thin layer. Let cool until hardened, about 30 minutes.

Once caramel has hardened, use a knife, a small mallet, or your hands to break it into small pieces or shards.

You can store the caramel brulée pieces in an airtight container at room temperature and they should stay fresh for about 2 weeks.

☕️ How to make Caramel Brulée Latte

And we're finally ready to make the drink we came here for! This part is so easy.

Just pour the espresso into a heat-proof coffee mug and stir in caramel brulée sauce.

Steam milk in the microwave, on the stovetop, or with an electric frother. Pour into espresso.

And now top with whipped cream and caramel brulée topping pieces.

And welcome back to the holiday season at Starbucks. Even in the middle of August.

This really is such a cozy and comforting drink. There's something about the toastiness that is reminiscent of a campfire on a cold night.

The brulée flavors somehow make the caramel flavor even more present and powerful and the milk mixes into it perfectly for a sweet and creamy treat. I might like my homemade drink even more than the coffee shop drink!

Personally, I think the Caramel Brulée Latte should stick around at Starbucks at least throughout the entire winter. But I guess it doesn't really matter now that you can make your own at home!

🧊 Can I make this an iced drink?

Which brings us to a very important question. If you love the Caramel Brulée Latte, but don't like hot drinks in the winter, you can turn this into an iced latte or even a cold brew or shaken espresso!

Just make it with lots of ice cubes and cold milk (or the dairy-alternative of your choice).

You can use the technique in my cold brew recipe to turn this into a Caramel Brulée Cold Brew, too. Just replace the syrup with the caramel brulée sauce. You can even add the sauce to the cold foam!

🎉 Variations on recipe

Once you have all of the elements of this seasonal drink, it's really simple to make. But there are lots of alterations and additions you can make to the latte to make it even more delicious.

Here are some fun ideas:

• Add more caramel brulée sauce for an even sweeter, more decadent drink.

• Add cinnamon, nutmeg, pumpkin pie spice, or cocoa powder to add different flavor dimensions.

• In addition to the caramel brulée sauce, add a pump or two of the syrup flavor of your choice. I recommend vanilla syrup, caramel, cinnamon dolce, or brown sugar.

• Drizzle drink with extra caramel sauce or use a chocolate syrup drizzle instead.

• Add ingredients to a blender with ice and a little xanthan gum powder to turn this into a Caramel Brulée Frappuccino.

• You can choose from all sorts of milk options, both dairy or dairy-alternatives, to change the flavor a bit. Oat milk, almond milk, soy milk, or coconut milk all work well. Of course, you can also use whole milk, skim milk, or 1% milk instead of 2%. Add a little heavy cream for an extra creamy drink!

• Add extra shots of espresso for more caffeine and a more coffee-forward drink.

• Instead of whipped cream, consider adding frothed milk to the top of the latte.

🧋 More seasonal Starbucks copycat drinks

If you love making Starbucks drinks at home and want to enjoy your favorite seasonal drinks year-round, try some of my other copycat recipes!

Here are some of my faves:

If you love all things caramel, you should also try my Caramel Apple Spice (which is actually available at Starbucks all year round!).

The Caramel Ribbon Crunch is also delicious.

Not only can you now enjoy your own Caramel Brulée Latte year-round, but you can sip on it in the comfort of your own home.

It's a holiday favorite hot coffee recipe perfect for all caramel lovers!

What's your favorite Starbucks holiday drink?

📖 Recipe