Have you tried summer's new iced drink, the Chocolate Cream Cold Brew from Starbucks? It's an absolutely delicious and perfectly smooth and creamy cold brew that's also super easy to recreate at home! It will bring back so many happy memories from your childhood summers!
Jump to:
- 🧋 What is a Chocolate Cream Cold Brew?
- ❤️ Why you'll love this recipe
- 🗒 Ingredients
- 🍦 How to make vanilla syrup
- 🍫 How to make chocolate cream cold foam
- ☕️ How to assemble Chocolate Cream Cold Brew
- 🍬 What if the drink is too sweet for me?
- 🍨 What if I want a sweeter coffee?
- 🐝 How much caffeine is in this drink?
- ❓ Do I need to use cold brew?
- 🧊 Can I make a Vanilla Sweet Cream Cold Brew instead of chocolate?
- 🥤 More Starbucks copycat recipes
- 📖 Recipe
- 💬 Comments
I get really excited when I hear about new seasonal food and drinks coming to Starbucks. I generally put out as many feelers as I can and end up hearing about the new menu items pretty far in advance. Which just means I have tons of anticipation as I wait to try them!
When I first heard Starbucks was introducing a Chocolate Cream Cold Brew to their summer menu, I was a little bit skeptical. I love chocolate, but not usually in coffee and while I enjoy a flavored coffee from time to time, I'd never choose chocolate flavored.
Plus, I really don't usually like overly sweet coffee and this one sounded like it was going to be a sugar bomb.
But when the day finally came for Starbucks to launch their first summer new menu items and I took my first sip... I LOVED the Chocolate Cream Cold Brew! It does have a creamy chocolate flavor, but it pairs so well with the smooth cold brew... And it's not overly sweet at all.
According to Starbucks, they wanted the drink to help transport customers "back to their favorite summer memories with each sip." And honestly, this iced coffee really does it as it's reminiscent of a malted chocolate milkshake.
🧋 What is a Chocolate Cream Cold Brew?
According to Starbucks, the Chocolate Cream Cold Brew is a cold brew coffee sweetened with vanilla syrup and topped with "silky, chocolaty cream cold foam."
And according to the ingredient list, it consists of ice, brewed coffee, chocolate cream, and vanilla syrup.
It's a super simple iced coffee drink, which means it's very easy to recreate at home! It's also easy to customize to your tastes.
❤️ Why you'll love this recipe
Honestly, it's hard not to love this iced drink! If you like the smoothness of cold brew, but still like to add a little sweetness and creaminess to it, you need to give this a try!
It really does remind me of a more adult-version, coffee-forward chocolate milkshake. If it's too sweet for you, you can cut down on the amount of sugar and if you like a darker coffee, you can use less of the chocolate cream cold foam.
🗒 Ingredients
There are a few different components to this drink, but it doesn't require too many ingredients.
I like to make my vanilla syrup from scratch, but you can certainly purchase a bottle instead. In fact, you can even get Starbucks vanilla syrup!
I also make my own chocolate cream for the cold foam, but you could also purchase chocolate creamer and make the foam with that instead. It will just be missing the malted flavor.
If you're making everything from scratch, here's what you need:
- Cold Brew: you can either make your own from scratch (here's a great guide), use cold brew packets (I like these packs), or use pre-made cold brew (Starbucks sells it!)
For the vanilla syrup:
- Water
- Granulated sugar
- Vanilla bean
For the chocolate cream cold foam:
- 2% milk
- Heavy cream
- Vanilla syrup
- Chocolate malt powder (I like Ovaltine)
🍦 How to make vanilla syrup
I have a full post dedicated to making homemade vanilla syrup and it's very easy to make!
Simply, put water and sugar in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil. Lower heat and let mixture simmer for about 10 minutes until sugar is completely dissolved and mixture has thickened a bit.
Pour syrup into a heat-proof jar or container. Scrape out some of the seeds from the sliced open vanilla pod with a sharp knife and add them and the vanilla bean into the syrup.
Place syrup in fridge and let steep for at least 6 hours. Syrup will thicken more as it cools. If you want a more intense vanilla flavor, you can leave the bean in after 6 hours.
🍫 How to make chocolate cream cold foam
The chocolate cream cold foam is also super easy to make! I start by making the chocolate cream, which is basically Starbucks' vanilla sweet cream with the addition of chocolate malt powder.
Just mix together milk, cream, vanilla syrup, and chocolate malt powder in a bowl until well combined. Or place all ingredients in a mason jar and shake. Keep in fridge until ready to use.
That's the chocolate cream.
To turn into foam, you can either use an electric frother or a hand mixer. Alternatively, you can shake the mixture in a mason jar until it's frothy.
I have an electric frother that works beautifully. But you could also use a hand mixer or blender. Or, when push comes to shove, you can put the cold chocolate cream in a mason jar and shake it like crazy until it turns into foam.
You can make the chocolate cream in advance, but don't turn it into foam until you're about to assemble your drink.
☕️ How to assemble Chocolate Cream Cold Brew
When your ingredients are ready, you can assemble your iced coffee! Make sure your cold brew is good to go.
For this recipe, I'm making a grande sized iced drink.
And pour about 10 oz into an ice-filled glass. Stir in about an ounce of vanilla syrup.
Starbucks makes their cold brews with 2 pumps of syrup, which equates to about an ounce.
This drink really is mostly cold brew, with a little sweetness and creaminess added in!
Now you're ready to add the chocolate cold foam. Simply top the drink with it and it will slowly drip down into the coffee, creating a beautiful look and a foamy top!
I'm telling you, this cold brew is absolutely heavenly!
🍬 What if the drink is too sweet for me?
I don't like overly sweet coffee drinks and I still really enjoyed this one! But if it's too sweet for you, you can cut down on the vanilla syrup and only add ½ ounce. Or you can leave the syrup out of the coffee all together and just get sweetness from the cold foam.
🍨 What if I want a sweeter coffee?
I've seen a couple people on social media say this cold brew isn't sweet enough for them and the solution is pretty simple... Just add more vanilla syrup or chocolate cream cold foam.
I've also seen people say it's good with white mocha sauce added in and that the addition of raspberry syrup makes it extra special!
🐝 How much caffeine is in this drink?
According to the Starbucks website, a grande Chocolate Cream Cold Brew contains 185 mg of caffeine.
❓ Do I need to use cold brew?
Technically, the drink will be a bit different if you don't use cold brew. But you can certainly make a very similar drink with iced coffee instead.
It will just be a chocolate cream iced coffee instead!
🧊 Can I make a Vanilla Sweet Cream Cold Brew instead of chocolate?
You won't likely be reading this post if you don't like chocolate, BUT you can also use this recipe to make a Vanilla Sweet Cream Cold Brew.
It's basically the same drink, but you won't add chocolate malt powder into the sweet cream and you don't turn it into a foam... Though you can make it with a foam if you want!
I mean; look at that foam. It does look pretty delicious, doesn't it?
This Chocolate Cream Cold Brew is really like an adult chocolate milk and I'm a little too in love with it.
Cold brew does have a bit more caffeine in it than regular iced coffee, so keep that in mind if you start falling in love with this as much as I did!
🥤 More Starbucks copycat recipes
I love creating copycat versions of Starbucks recipes and I have lots to share with you! Here are some of my favorites... And I'm creating new ones all the time!
- Strawberry Acai Refresher
- Iced White Chocolate Mocha
- Pistachio Latte
- Iced Toasted Vanilla Oatmilk Shaken Espresso
- Pink Drink
- Twix Frappuccino
- Chocolate Covered Strawberry Frappuccino
- Iced Sugar Cookie Almond Milk Latte
- Apple Crisp Macchiato
Let me know what your favorite Starbucks drinks are that you'd love copycat versions of!
In the meantime, I'll be spending my entire summer sipping on Chocolate Cream Cold Brews.
📖 Recipe
Chocolate Cream Cold Brew
Ingredients
- 10 oz. cold brew
- Ice
- 1 oz. vanilla syrup (store-bought or recipe below)
- ⅓ cup chocolate cream cold foam (recipe below)*
Vanilla Syrup
- 1 cup water
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 vanilla bean
Chocolate Cream Cold Foam
- ¾ cup 2% milk
- ¼ cup heavy cream
- 2 Tbsp vanilla syrup
- 2 ½ Tbsp chocolate malt powder
Instructions
- Pour cold brew into an ice-filled glass. Stir in vanilla syrup.
- Top drink with chocolate cream cold foam and enjoy.
Vanilla Syrup
- Put water and sugar in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil. Lower heat and let mixture simmer for about 10 minutes until sugar is completely dissolved and mixture has thickened a bit.
- Pour syrup into a heat-proof jar or container. Scrape out some of the seeds from the sliced open vanilla pod with a sharp knife and add them and the vanilla bean into the syrup.
- Place syrup in fridge and let steep for at least 6 hours**. Syrup will thicken more as it cools. If you want a more intense vanilla flavor, you can leave the bean in after 6 hours.
- For a quicker vanilla syrup, you can use vanilla extract instead of a vanilla bean. Stir about a Tablespoon of the extract into the saucepan right when you remove it from the heat. Syrup will be ready to use as soon as it cools.
Chocolate Cream Cold Foam
- Mix milk, cream, vanilla syrup, and chocolate malt powder in a bowl until well combined. Or place all ingredients in a mason jar and shake. Keep in fridge until ready to use.
- To turn into foam, you can either use an electric frother, hand mixer, or blender. Alternatively, you can shake the mixture in a mason jar until it's frothy.
Notes
- For more details on making the vanilla syrup, check out my full post on it.
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Carrie says
I want to say thanks so much for this recipe. It is actually BETTER than Starbucks!
Alexandra says
This recipe sounds soooo good! I was wondering if you had any ideas/tips to make this recipe dairy free?
Sues says
Hi Alexandra! The main source of dairy in the recipe is in the cold foam and it looks like Starbucks makes their dairy-free cold foam with oat milk (which froths up nicely!). I'd just replace the cream and 2% milk with oat milk... Depending on what brand you use, there may be dairy in the chocolate malt powder. I'd try replacing it with hot chocolate mix; the drink won't have the "malted" flavor, but it should still be chocolatey and delicious! If you try it, let me know how it turns out!