Name: Pumpkin Cream Cold Brew Recipe (Starbucks Copycat!)
Prep time: 5 min
Total time: 5 min
Ingredients: 8 oz. cold brew coffee; 1 tablespoon vanilla syrup (like Torani); Ice; 3 tablespoons heavy whipping cream; 2 tablespoons lowfat milk (2% ideal, but whole or 1% will work too.); 2 tablespoons pumpkin spice syrup (homemade recommended (or use ingredients below)); 2 teaspoons water; 2 teaspoons brown sugar; 1 teaspoons maple syrup; ¾ teaspoon pumpkin puree; 1/4 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

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Move over, pumpkin spice lattes! This decadent and refreshing better than Starbucks copycat pumpkin cream cold brew recipe is where it’s at! Lightly sweetened cold brew coffee is topped with a pumpkin spice flavored pourable whipped cream topping perfection in every sip.

I recommend using our craveworthy made-from-scratch pumpkin spice syrup recipe to give this cafe-style drink the flavor of homemade pumpkin pie in a cup, but I’ve also included single serving syrup ingredients if you don’t want to make a whole batch. Best of all, you can whip up this drink in under 5 minutes (and save yourself about six bucks!).

A Starbucks copycat pumpkin cream cold brew coffee drink sprinkled with pumpkin pie spices.

Every fall, people go nuts for the return of the famous pumpkin spice latte at Starbucks. But after being around for over 20 years, it’s time for a new way to enjoy your pumpkin spice flavored beverages. (Also, how has it been TWENTY YEARS!!! I remember when it came out when I was in college!!!)

Enter the pumpkin cream cold brew coffee. It. Is. Perfection.

Iced coffee is never out of season, especially in temperate Charleston. Pumpkin spice lattes come back in September, and last time I checked it was still 86 degrees here at the end of the month. I’ll still have a cold drink, thank you.

A coffee drink topped with cold foam surrounded by fall decor.

This recipe starts with a base of cold brew coffee lightly sweetened with vanilla syrup. It’s topped with sweet cream cold foam, a delicious pourable whipped cream topping that can be flavored any way you like. When you sip your drink from the rim, you get a perfect blend of flavored sweet foam and smooth cold brew coffee in every sip.

My favorite layered cold foam drink this spring was the lavender cream matcha latte, but since I tried a pumpkin cream cold brew coffee using my new pumpkin spice syrup recipe, I’m officially hooked.

You just need a few ingredients, a handheld milk frother or mason jar, and five minutes.

Ingredients

Cold brew coffee: You can make your own or buy it ready-made. I’m obsessed with Stok unsweetened cold brew coffee with the green label and go through like two bottles a week. While you can use iced brewed coffee instead in a pinch, it can be more acidic or bitter than true cold brew, which gently extracts the flavor from coffee grounds with cold water over a longer period of time.
Vanilla syrup: Make your own or use a store-bought syrup like Torani. This is to flavor the cold brew.
Pumpkin spice syrup: While you can use a store-bought syrup, I absolutely recommend making our homemade pumpkin spice syrup recipe for this drink. This is the primary flavor of this drink and it’s worth an extra 10 minutes to make your cold foam taste like real pumpkin pie. If you don’t want to make a whole batch, I’ve included ingredient quantities to make just enough for this one drink.
Heavy cream and milk: These ingredients blend together with the pumpkin spice syrup to make the cold foam. While 2% milk is ideal for making sweet cream cold foam, I wouldn’t make a special trip to the store if you have 1% or whole milk already.

What about skim milk? You may have heard that skim milk is the best for making cold foam, and that’s true — for unsweetened cold foam. To make pumpkin cream that is rich, fluffy, stable, and better than Starbucks, you’ll need heavy cream and milk. This is the same as what Starbucks uses for their flavored sweet cream cold foams.

How to Make Pumpkin Cream Cold Brew Coffee

Sweeten your cold brew. Add vanilla syrup to some cold brew coffee, just enough to lightly sweeten the brew. (images 1 and 2)
Add ice. Leave room at the top for the pumpkin cream!
Blend your pumpkin cream. Use a handheld milk frother to blend heavy cream, milk, and pumpkin spice syrup into a light, fluffy mixture. If you don’t have a milk frother, shake it in a closed container like a mason jar until it’s doubled in size. (images 3 and 4)
Pour it in! Pour the pumpkin cream over your iced cold brew coffee. Top with a mix of pumpkin pie spice and sugar, if desired. (image 5)

Pumpkin cream being poured onto an icy cold brew coffee.

Tips & Tricks

Enjoy this drink immediately after making it, or the pumpkin cream will start to clump up.
Drink from the rim, not with a straw. This allows you to get both the refreshing cold brew and the fluffy pumpkin cream in every sip. Perfection!
Some like it sweeter. Starbucks adds syrups to already-sweetened vanilla sweet cream to make their flavored cold foams. If you like yours on the sweeter side, add both pumpkin spice syrup AND a tablespoon of vanilla syrup to your sweet cream mixture before blending. That said, if you’re using storebought pumpkin spice syrup, you may need less of it to achieve the same level of sweetness due to the lack of pumpkin puree.

Iced coffee drink with a thick layer of cold foam on a wooden coaster with fall decor.

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