This Pumpkin Cream Cold Brew is a Starbucks copycat that's ideal for anyone who loves a seasonal pumpkin drink, but doesn't like coffee that's too sweet! It's full-bodied cold brew coffee with the perfect touch of vanilla syrup and pumpkin cream cold foam.
Jump to:
- 🎃 What is a Pumpkin Cream Cold Brew?
- ❤️ Why you'll love this recipe
- 🗒 Ingredients
- 🛍 Where can ingredients be purchased?
- 🍦 How to make vanilla syrup
- 🍂 How to make pumpkin spice sauce
- 🥛 How to make pumpkin cream cold foam
- ☕️ How to assemble pumpkin cream cold brew
- 🍬 What if the drink is too sweet or not sweet enough for me?
- 🐝 How much caffeine is in this drink?
- ❓Do I need to use cold brew?
- 💡 More Starbucks copycat recipes
- 📖 Recipe
- 💬 Comments
Pumpkin season is finally here and I'm excited about it for SO many reasons! And pumpkin coffee is a pretty big one.
I'm not going to lie; the pumpkin spice latte is not my favorite drink. It's a bit too sweet for me and every time I order one, I have to modify it with fewer pumps of syrup.
Enter the Pumpkin Cream Cold Brew. This Starbucks drink is the pumpkin drink for the coffee lover! It's not too sweet (though you can certainly modify it to give it more sweetness or even less if you want) and it has the perfect touch of creamy pumpkin spice flavor.
It's also the ideal drink for the "in-between" season. You know, when you're totally in fall mode and craving pumpkin spice, but it's still too hot out to give up your iced coffee!
Starbucks also released the Iced Pumpkin Cream Chai Tea Latte in 2003, which is the perfect pumpkin drink for the non-coffee drinker.
🎃 What is a Pumpkin Cream Cold Brew?
The Pumpkin Cream Cold Brew is a drink from Starbucks that's made with cold brew coffee, vanilla syrup, and a pumpkin cream cold foam.
I was surprised to learn that the pumpkin spice flavor all comes from the cold foam and the sprinkling of spice on top. The coffee is actually flavored with vanilla syrup.
But the drink does also have a nice dusting of pumpkin pie spice on top!
❤️ Why you'll love this recipe
You'll love being able to make this Pumpkin Cream Cold Brew at home. Not only is it pretty easy to make, but it taste almost identical to the drink you get at Starbucks!
The cold brew drink does have a few different components to it, but you can either make them yourself or purchase them. Either way, once you have the components, you can easily make this perfect seasonal drink whenever you want!
🗒 Ingredients
This drink is simple enough in that it really has just three main components: cold brew coffee, vanilla syrup, and pumpkin cream cold foam.
But in order to make the pumpkin cream cold foam, you'll also need a pumpkin spice sauce. You also have the option to make your own vanilla syrup.
But, of course, you can also purchase the sauce and the syrup and to get pre-made cold brew coffee.
If you're making everything from scratch, here's what you need (see recipe card below for ingredient amounts and full instructions):
For the coffee:
- Cold brew coffee
- Vanilla syrup
- Pumpkin cream cold foam
- Pumpkin pie spice
For the vanilla syrup
- Water
- Granulated sugar
- Vanilla bean
For the pumpkin cream cold foam:
- 2% milk
- Heavy cream
- Pumpkin spice sauce
- Vanilla syrup of vanilla extract
For the pumpkin spice sauce:
- Water
- Granulated sugar
- Pumpkin puree
- Vanilla extract
- Pumpkin pie spice
🛍 Where can ingredients be purchased?
If you don't want to make each component of the drink, you can easily purchase most of them. Here are some recommendations:
If you purchase these 3 ingredients, you can make this drink in just minutes!
But if you want to make each component homemade, I'm showing you how to do that below!
🍦 How to make vanilla syrup
Homemade vanilla syrup is incredibly easy to make with just 3 ingredients.
Just 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.
Be sure to place syrup in fridge and let it steep for at least 6 hours. Syrup will thicken more as it cools.
Not only is this vanilla syrup necessary for a Pumpkin Cream Cold Brew, but there's SO much you can do with it - check out my full post to see more ideas.
🍂 How to make pumpkin spice sauce
When I was researching how to make Starbucks pumpkin spice sauce, I realized that it's pretty much identical to my pumpkin spice syrup. And let's face it, my syrup is really more of a sauce anyway.
{2023 update: It appears Starbucks changed their pumpkin spice sauce a bit and I have a new less syrup-y recipe you can see here. Either one works for this recipe, but the other will make the cold foam a little more orange-y in color).
Since it involves pumpkin puree, it's a lot thicker than my typical simple syrups and definitely more sauce-like.
But you make it just like you would a simple syrup and it's so easy! To start, just put water, sugar, vanilla extract, pumpkin puree, and pumpkin pie spice in a medium saucepan.
Give it a good stir and bring to a boil. Once boiling, lower heat and let simmer for about 10 minutes, until sugar is completely dissolved and mixture has thickened into a sauce.
Pour syrup in a heat-proof bowl or mason jar and place in fridge to cool completely before using.
This is another syrup/sauce that has a ton of uses!
🥛 How to make pumpkin cream cold foam
Now that your pumpkin spice sauce is made or bought, you can turn it into pumpkin cream cold foam. This part is easy, too!
I've made several different Starbucks' cold foams, including the vanilla sweet cream cold foam and the chocolate cream cold foam. I've also made cold foam for the Pistachio Cream Cold Brew drink. But the pumpkin is definitely a new favorite.
Mix milk, cream, and pumpkin spice sauce in a mason jar and shake to combine. If you don't have a jar, you can stir all ingredients together in a bowl.
This is your pumpkin cold cream. If you don't want to turn it into foam, you can just use it to stir into coffee. Yum!
If you're making this ahead of time, you can keep just like this in an airtight container in the fridge and wait to turn it into a foam until you're ready to use it.
To turn it into a foam, you can either use an electric frother, a hand mixer, or a blender. Just add the sweet cream and froth, mix, or blend until the mixture turns into a foam.
Perfection!
If you don't have any of these appliances, you can shake the mixture in a mason jar until it's frothy.
☕️ How to assemble pumpkin cream cold brew
OK! Now that you have ALL your ingredients together, you can whip up the Pumpkin Cream Cold Brew in no time!
Is there anything better than a big jar of freshly brewed cold brew?? (yes, freshly brewed cold brew with vanilla syrup and pumpkin cold foam!).
To make the drink, pour cold brew into an ice-filled glass. I use about 10 oz. for a grande size.
Stir in vanilla syrup. I use about an ounce since there are 2 pumps in a grande.
And then top drink with pumpkin cream cold foam. I use about ⅓ cup.
Sprinkle the top with pumpkin pie spice, add a straw if you want, and enjoy!
I swear this is so much more delicious than a pumpkin spice latte. It's the perfect level of sweetness and has great vanilla and pumpkin flavors.
But you can also still taste the bold coffee! Which is essential to me. And since it's cold brew, it's nice and smooth.
It's the perfect transition drink for when it's still pretty hot at the beginning of September to when the cool fall air really starts to set in.
But who am I kidding, I know some of you like to drink iced coffee all fall and winter long!
🍬 What if the drink is too sweet or not sweet enough for me?
This Pumpkin Cream Cold Brew is so simple to customize to make your own! You can easily cut down on the amount of vanilla syrup you use or add more.
You can also stir in more of the pumpkin sweet cream for extra creaminess and sweetness.
Or you can even consider adding another flavor syrup like cinnamon dolce, caramel or sugar cookie.
🐝 How much caffeine is in this drink?
According to Starbucks, there are 185 mg of caffeine in a grande Pumpkin Cream Cold. Brew. For reference, there are 165 mg of caffeine in a plain grande iced coffee.
❓Do I need to use cold brew?
I think cold brew is SO delicious in this drink. Because it's not overly sweet and the coffee flavor isn't totally hidden by other added flavors, you can really taste it and I love how smooth it is.
However, you definitely don't need to use cold brew! In fact, if you have leftover coffee from breakfast, you can stick it in the fridge and enjoy a Pumpkin Cream Cold Brew (or at least a pumpkin cream iced coffee!) by lunchtime.
💡 More Starbucks copycat recipes
If you love this copycat Pumpkin Cream Cold Brew recipe, chances are you'll love more of my make-at-home Starbucks recipes. You can see all the copycat recipes here, but some of my favorites include the Apple Crisp Macchiato, Strawberry Acai Refresher, and Iced Toasted Vanilla Oatmilk Shaken Espresso.
The Iced Pumpkin Cream Chai Tea Latte is Starbucks new pumpkin drink for fall 2023.
Do you have a favorite fall coffee drink? I hope this pumpkin cold brew is added to your seasonal must-make list!
📖 Recipe
Pumpkin Cream Cold Brew
Ingredients
- 10 oz. cold brew
- 1 oz. vanilla syrup (store-bought or recipe below)
- ⅓ cup pumpkin cream cold foam (recipe below)
- Pumpkin pie spice
Vanilla Syrup
- 1 cup water
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 vanilla bean
Pumpkin Cream Cold Foam
- ¾ cup 2% milk
- ¼ cup heavy cream
- 2 ½ Tbsp pumpkin spice sauce (store-bought or recipe below)
- 2 tsp vanilla syrup (store-bought or recipe below), or you can use 1 tsp vanilla extract
Pumpkin Spice Sauce
- 1 cup water
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- ½ cup pumpkin puree
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 ½ tsp pumpkin pie spice*
Instructions
- Pour cold brew into an ice-filled glass. Stir in vanilla syrup.
- Top drink with pumpkin 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.
Pumpkin Cream Cold Foam
- Mix milk, cream, and pumpkin spice sauce in a mason jar and shake to combine. Alternatively, you can stir all ingredients together in a bowl. If you're not using right away, keep in an airtight container in the fridge (you can use this pumpkin sweet cream in coffee as is if you want).
- Turn mixture into cold foam right before using. 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.
Pumpkin Spice Sauce
- Put all ingredients in a medium saucepan, stir, and bring to a boil.
- Once boiling, lower heat and let simmer for about 10 minutes, until sugar is completely dissolved and mixture has thickened.
- Pour syrup in a heat-proof bowl or mason jar and place in fridge to cool completely before using.
Notes
- Note that if you're making your own vanilla syrup, it will need about 12 hours to steep.
- You should be able to make about 3 drinks with cold foam recipe, 4-5 drinks with pumpkin spice sauce, and 10 drinks with vanilla syrup.
- Pumpkin sweet cream should keep in your fridge in an airtight container for about a week. I recommend turning it into cold foam right before using.
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Rebecca says
Holy cow this was good. I want to drink the pumpkin cold foam straight!