Iced Mango Cream Chai {Starbucks Copycat}

This Starbucks copycat Iced Mango Cream Chai combines spiced chai and milk with a sweet, creamy mango cold foam for a drink that perfectly balances warm chai spice with fruity tropical flavor. It's easy to make at home and is the perfect refreshing drink for mango lovers!

Jump to:

• ❤️ Why this recipe works
• 🗒 Ingredients
• 🧋 Recipe tips
• 🎉 Recipe variations
• 🫖 How to make drink with tea bags
• 🥤 More Starbucks chai recipes
• 📖 Recipe
• 💬 Comments

Now that mango syrup is back at Starbucks, customers are finding all kinds of delicious ways to use it!

But first, Starbucks has launched two official menu mango drinks: the Iced Mango Cream Matcha and the Iced Mango Cream Chai.

There's just something about sweet mango that goes so well with tea! I personally think it calms the earthy taste in matcha a bit, but it also really complements the spices in an iced chai!

I'm excited to share my Starbucks copycat Iced Mango Cream Chai recipe with you today. It's one of the simplest Starbucks recipes you can make at home and requires just a few steps!

❤️ Why this recipe works

Chai and mango are the perfect pairing: the tropical sweetness of mango complements chai's warm spices (cardamom, cinnamon, and ginger) really well, creating a flavor combination that's both comforting and a little "exotic."

It uses Starbucks' old chai formula: this make-at-home recipe uses chai concentrate, which is how Starbucks used to make their drinks. It's undoubtably a tastier chai than the current one they make with chai syrup, so I'm not changing that in my new chai recipes!

Components can be made ahead of time: if you're making your own mango syrup, you can make it in advance (or you can purchase it!). And you can make the mango sweet cream in advance, too, and whip it into a cold foam right before you're ready to enjoy your drink.

No fancy equipment required: the foam can be made with a frother, hand mixer, blender, or even just a mason jar, making it achievable for virtually anyone at home.

Totally customizable: the recipe works with any milk or dairy alternative, so it's easy to adapt for different dietary needs. Plus, there are lots of additions and changes you can make to the recipe to make it perfect for you!

🗒 Ingredients

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

• Ice
• Chai concentrate: Starbucks doesn't sell the chai tea concentrate they use, so I recommend using Tazo Chai Tea Concentrate (Starbucks actually used to use this!) or simply the brand you like best. If you prefer to make a homemade chai tea with tea bags instead, I share some information on how to do that below.
• 2% milk: or the dairy/non-dairy alternative of your choice
• Mango cream cold foam: I'll show you how to make this and share the ingredients needed below.

If you want to make your own mango syrup or plain simple syrup (classic as Starbucks calls it), here's what you need:

• Water
• Granulated sugar
• Diced mango (if making mango syrup)

And for the mango cream cold foam, you'll need:

• Heavy cream
• 2% milk
• Mango syrup: I like to make my own homemade mango syrup, but you can also feel free to purchase a bottle of it.

🧋 Recipe tips

• If you're making your own mango syrup, I have a whole blog post devoted to the process.

• However, if you prefer to purchase a bottle of mango syrup, that's totally fine, too!

• You can make the mango sweet cream in advance and keep it in a mason jar or airtight container in your fridge. When you're ready for a chai drink, whip the sweet cream into a cold foam.

• Cold foams froth up best with really cold ingredients, so make sure you use cream and milk right out of the fridge. And if you make the sweet cream in advance, keep it chilled until ready to use.

• If you don't have a frother, you can make your cold foam in a blender or with a hand mixer. You can even just keep it in the mason jar and shake it vigorously. Your foam won't be quite as voluminous, but it will still give you a nice froth.

• For assembling the drink, you just need to mix the chai concentrate and milk into an ice-filled cup.

• If you want to use syrups instead of concentrate (the new way Starbucks makes their chai drinks), Starbucks uses 4 pumps chai syrup and 4 pumps classic (plain) syrup in a grande drink. For reference, 4 pumps is about 1 oz or 2 Tbsp.

• Pour cold foam over the drink, so it rests on top of the chai mixture and slowly seeps down into the drink.

• Of course, you can take this recipe and adjust everything to your own tastes! I try to make my recipes as close to Starbucks as possible, but one of the best things about making the drinks at home is that you can do anything you want to them... Like use chai concentrate instead of the new syrups!

I love how this new chai drink is pretty simple. You get all the traditional chai spice flavors with just a light and fruity mango essence. The spices aren't overtaken by the mango and the flavor balance is perfection.

And cold foam pretty much always makes a chai drink better!

🎉 Recipe variations

Like any Starbucks drink, there are lots of ways you can make the Iced Mango Cream Chai your own. Here are some fun ideas:

• Use the dairy/non-dairy alternative of your choice: you can use any kind of milk or milk substitute in this drink. I think coconut milk is especially delicious because it makes the drink even more tropical tasting. Oat milk is also very tasty!
• Add the simple syrup flavor of your choice to the drink. The chai concentrate is already pretty sweet, so if you're not a sweet drink lover, you'll want to be careful with this, but so many flavors would work well in this. Add some mango syrup for even more fruity flavor, but Starbucks customers also love using coconut syrup, brown sugar syrup, vanilla syrup, or cinnamon dolce syrup.
• For a dirty mango chai, add a shot or two of espresso to the drink. The bitterness will help cut some of the sweetness and add some more caffeine, of course. I have a hot dirty chai recipe all ready for you.
• Blend everything with together in a blender for a mango chai frappe situation.
• If you're not a fan of the chai spices, you can make this drink with earl grey tea concentrate or tea bags.
• Add a drizzle of white mocha syrup for a dessert-like drink.
• The Starbucks mango chai doesn't have any toppings on it, but you can add anything you want! Crushed freeze-dried mango would be delicious.

🫖 How to make drink with tea bags

If you want a lower sugar drink or just a more "natural" chai flavor, you can make your chai tea with actual tea bags. I recommend using a couple tea bags per cup of water so you still have a concentrated flavor to the drink.

I like these chai tea bags best.

When making the drink, you'll want to use more of the tea than you would of the concentrate. Then you can add simple syrup, honey, agave, or maple syrup until you reach the sweetness level you like.

Another option is to use a lower sugar chai tea concentrate. You can also use less of the regular chai concentrate if you want, but you don't want to lessen the chai flavor too much.

🥤 More Starbucks chai recipes

Starbucks is always adding fun chai drinks to their menu. And I love recreating them at home! Here are some of my favorite copycat recipes:

And now that you have a batch of homemade or a bottle of store-bought mango syrup, you should definitely also try the Iced Mango Cream Matcha!

I never would have thought to pair chai and mango together, but now that I've been making this drink, the pairing seems so obvious!

What's your favorite way to enjoy chai?

📖 Recipe