Pistachio Cream Cold Brew {Starbucks Copycat}

Do you love the Pistachio Cream Cold Brew from Starbucks? This make-at-home copycat version tastes just like the real thing and is easy to make! The step-by-step recipe instructs you on how to make each component, but also offers lots of simple shortcuts.

Jump to:

• ☕️ What is a pistachio cream cold brew?
• ❤️ Why you'll love this recipe
• 🗒 Ingredients
• 🥣 How to make pistachio sauce
• 🥛 How to make pistachio cold foam
• 🧈 How to make salted brown butter topping
• 🧋 How to make pistachio cream cold brew
• 🎉 What if I want more pistachio flavor?
• 🐝 How much caffeine is in this drink?
• ❓ Do I need to use cold brew?
• 🥤 More Starbucks copycat iced drinks
• 📖 Recipe
• 💬 Comments

I'm thrilled that Starbucks has doubled down on their love for pistachio and introduced a new pistachio drink to the winter 2023 menu.

If you enjoyed last year's pistachio latte, you're going to want to try this year's new Pistachio Cream Cold Brew! It's packed with rich coffee flavor, vanilla sweetness, and pistachio cream.

I've been loving the "cream cold brews" recently and have created recipes for the Pumpkin Cream Cold Brew and Chocolate Cream Cold Brew. While this pistachio version is a bit different, it's just as delicious and a cold drink you'll want to learn to make at home, too!

☕️ What is a pistachio cream cold brew?

According to the Starbucks website, this drink is a "signature cold brew sweetened with vanilla syrup, topped with a silky, pistachio cream cold foam and finished with salted brown-buttery sprinkles for a sweet treat to start up any winter day."

Sounds absolutely delicious, doesn't it? It also sounds like a lot of steps. And it is if you want to make an exact copycat at home, but they're all pretty easy. Luckily, I also have lots of shortcuts that can help you make this faster!

❤️ Why you'll love this recipe

You'll love this copycat version of the Pistachio Cream Cold Brew because it tastes exactly like the iced coffee you get at Starbucks!

My goal is always to make my copycat drinks as close to Starbucks originals as possible, so for that reason, they're often much more detailed than other recipes you find may be. That said, I also offer lots of shortcuts if you don't feel like making each of the drink's components and want to simplify it a bit.

You really only need to make the pistachio cream cold foam yourself because you can't buy cold foam in the store! But you can buy cold brew, vanilla syrup, pistachio butter (or syrup), and salted brown butter cookie topping substitutes.

While I love the special drink, I do think it's a little bit lacking in pistachio flavor... But when I make it at home, I can add as much as I want!

🗒 Ingredients

First, let's talk about the different parts of the drink. They include:

• Cold brew coffee: you can make your own cold brew or you can buy bottles of Starbucks cold brew.
• Vanilla syrup: I'm sharing my recipe for homemade vanilla syrup here with you, but you can also buy a bottle of vanilla syrup.
• Pistachio cream cold foam: I make my own pistachio sauce and then whip it into an easy-to-make cold foam. If you don't want to make pistachio sauce, you can either make pistachio syrup or buy a bottle of pistachio syrup.
• Salted brown butter cookie topping: this is easy to make and can be made ahead and re-heated before using. You can skip and simply drizzle a little brown butter syrup over the top of your drink instead or just crush some shortbread cookies over the top.

Please see recipe card at the bottom of this post for ingredient amounts and full recipes instructions.

Here's what you need if you're making your own vanilla syrup:

• Water
• Granulated sugar
• Vanilla bean (or vanilla extract)

I include the instructions in the recipe card, but you can also check out this post for very detailed instructions.

Here's what you need for the pistachio sauce:

• Shelled salted pistachios (or pistachio butter)
• Sweetened condensed milk
• Milk: I like to use 2%, but anything should work, especially since it's what you need for the cold foam.

Here's what you need to turn the pistachio sauce into cold foam:

• 2% milk
• Heavy cream
• Pistachio sauce (or pistachio syrup)

Here's what you need for the salted brown butter topping:

• Butter
• Salt (if using unsalted butter)
• Brown sugar

🥣 How to make pistachio sauce

In my copycat Starbucks' pistachio latte recipe, I use a homemade pistachio syrup to make the drink. But this time I decided to make a pistachio "sauce" since this is what the Starbucks' ingredient list specifies.

According to them, it's mostly made with nonfat condensed milk and pistachio butter. But after experimenting a bit, I decided it needed to be thinned out a bit with some milk; otherwise, it's not much of a sauce. I also couldn't get my hands on nonfat condensed milk, so I used full-fat.

I made my own pistachio butter by simply grinding salted pistachios until they formed into a paste. You also easily put the pistachios in a blender or food processor.

You can grind until a smooth paste is formed or leave it a little chunkier.

If you don't want to do this, you can simply buy a jar of pistachio butter.

Put the condensed milk, 2% milk, and pistachio butter in a medium saucepan over medium-low heat.

Bring it to a simmer, while stirring, and let simmer for about 2 minutes.

Pour sauce into a heat-proof bowl or jar and put in the fridge so it can cool completely before you use it to make the cold foam.

🥛 How to make pistachio cold foam

Once you have your pistachio sauce ready and cooled (or pistachio syrup if you choose to use that instead), you're ready to make the cold foam.

You can make the sweet cream in advance and keep it in your fridge. And then right before you're ready to enjoy the Pistachio Cream Cold Brew, you can turn the sweet cream into a cold foam.

To make the sweet cream, add milk, cream, and pistachio sauce to a mason jar and shake to combine. Alternatively, you can stir all ingredients together in a bowl.

This is the "pistachio sweet cream." If you're not using right away, keep in an airtight container in the fridge.

To turn it into a cold foam, you can either use an electric frother, hand mixer, or blender. Just add the sweet cream and froth, mix, or blend until the mixture turns into a foam. Alternatively, you can shake the mixture in a mason jar until it's frothy.

You'll want to eat the silky pistachio cream with a spoon... But save some for the coffee!

🧈 How to make salted brown butter topping

Now for the final element to this drink... the salted brown butter cookie topping. In my opinion, this can easily be left out without making too huge of a difference, though it is quite tasty.

You can also use a drizzle of brown butter syrup or crushed shortbread cookies if you prefer something simpler (remember the brown butter sprinkles do add a little bit of crunch).

That said, it is quite easy to make and can be made ahead of time and then re-heated when ready to use.

Just put butter in a light-colored pan over medium heat. It's important that the saucepan be light color because you'll want to be able to see when the butter is browning.

Once melted, it should start to bubble...

And in just a minute or two (or more if you're using more butter), you'll start seeing brown flecks on the bottom of the saucepan and the butter will start smelling nutty.

Remove the saucepan from the heat and continue to stir for another 30 seconds. Pour it into a small heat-proof bowl. If you used unsalted butter, stir in a pinch salt here.

Immediately stir in brown sugar until well combined. The brown sugar helps give this brown butter topping a "cookie" flavor.

If you want to make this ahead of time (or make extra for future drinks!), store in an airtight container in your fridge. When you're ready to use it, warm it in the microwave and stir until it's liquid again. You can also warm over very low heat on the stovetop.

🧋 How to make pistachio cream cold brew

OK, now that all of the components of the cold brew are ready (I know it sounds like a lot, but you can buy practically everything aside from the cold foam!), you're ready to mix up the drink.

Just pour about 10 ounces of cold brew in an ice-filled cup and stir in the vanilla syrup.

Then add in about ⅓ cup of the cold foam.

And drizzle the salted brown butter cookie topping over the cold foam. I also like to add on some crushed pistachios, though Starbucks does not do this in-store.

And you're ready to sip away!

I am obsessed with Starbucks cold brews because I love that you get lots of rich coffee flavor with some sweetness (to satisfy my sweet tooth!) and creaminess added in.

They're perfect for coffee lovers and in this one, there's also a nice light nutty taste that I find absolutely delightful.

Of course, you're welcome to use less vanilla syrup if you don't like your coffee too sweet (or more if you want it sweeter!). You can also use less of the cold foam for a less milky coffee.

🎉 What if I want more pistachio flavor?

My one criticism of the Pistachio Cream Cold Brew at Starbucks is that I wish it had a little bit more pistachio flavor to it. Though I'm also quite pleased that it doesn't have an artificial pistachio taste to it!

However, if you want more pistachio flavor, it's easy to do when you make this drink at home. You can either mix a little of your pistachio sauce into the cold brew or you can replace the vanilla syrup with pistachio syrup. You can customize the drink to have the perfect flavor for you!

I have a homemade pistachio syrup recipe or you can buy a bottle of it.

🐝 How much caffeine is in this drink?

People often wonder how much caffeine they'll be consuming when they get a drink at Starbucks since the store doesn't really blatantly advertise the amounts.

In a grande Pistachio Cream Cold Brew, there's about 185 mg caffeine. For reference, there are 165 mg of caffeine in a plain grande iced coffee.

❓ Do I need to use cold brew?

Though this drink is technically made with cold brew (coffee that is brewed for a number of hours in cold water instead of quickly in hot water), you can enjoy a pistachio cream drink with simple iced coffee and it will be very close to this drink!

I love cold brew since I think it's smoother and more "drinkable" than other iced coffee, but some people can't even tell the difference. If you have leftover coffee from breakfast, you can even just stick it in the fridge and enjoy a Pistachio Cream Cold Brew (or iced coffee) later in the day!

🥤 More Starbucks copycat iced drinks

I love making my own Starbucks drinks and food at home and have lots of copycat recipes on my website. You can see ALL my Starbucks recipes here and I'm sharing a few of my favorite ice drinks below:

I hope you enjoy this make-at-home Starbucks recipe! It may be on the menu in-store for a limited time for the winter season, but you can make the yummy cold coffee at home whenever you want. And I hope Starbucks continues to come up with new pistachio drinks for us to enjoy.

If you make it, let me know how you adapted it for your own tastes in the comments below. And stay tuned because I'll be sure to feature the coffee chain's next new drink as soon as it's out!

📖 Recipe

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