Vanilla Starbucks Iced Coffee: A Simple Guide

Looking for a way to bring Starbucks to the comforts of your home? Or are you trying to venture into making a drink other than your usual and traditional iced coffee? Fret not as you can make your own Starbucks Iced Vanilla Latte copycat with 4 simple ingredients in less than 5 minutes through this article.

Recreating this famous drink at home can also save you your money and energy instead of going to your local Starbucks store during a hot summer’s day. You can also store batches of its ingredients so that you can make and prepare more iced vanilla lattes in the future with ease.

Guide for Iced Vanilla Latte (How To Make At Home)

Preparation Time: 5 minutes
Total Time: 5 minutes

Key Ingredients

1. Espresso Homemade Iced Coffee

Starbucks makes this drink with their signature espresso, so you may use their espresso roast if you want to save time preparing this drink. You can choose between Whole beans: Starbucks Espresso Roast, Nespresso Original: Starbucks Espresso Roast, and Nespresso Vertuo: Espresso Roast, go to your local Starbucks store and see if they’re in stock.

• Whole beans: Starbucks Espresso Roast: For an intense, sweet-tasting caramel perfect in combination with steamed milk.
  
• Nespresso Original: Starbucks Espresso Roast: For a fuller, bolder, and robust taste still in perfect combination with steamed milk.
  
• Nespresso Vertuo: Espresso Roast: For a climate-friendly alternative that lets you explore different intensities depending on your taste. Their capsules are also recyclable, ensuring the freshness of your coffee.

However, if you want to save money, you can easily prepare your iced coffee at home. Simply brew a pot of coffee and let it sit and cool at room temperature, or you may refrigerate it to advance the cooling process.

Meanwhile, iced coffee is simply letting the hot pot of coffee cool down at room temperature, not exceeding it overnight.

Hence, cold brew can be a great alternative if you’re looking for a stronger tasting coffee that lasts and tastes better before the acidity kicks in.

2. Vanilla Syrup

These are used as a sweetener to turn your latte into a vanilla latte. You can purchase this from your local groceries or prepare a homemade vanilla syrup in 5 minutes through these easy steps.

Ingredients:

• Vanilla Extract: Depending on the brand, a more expensive vanilla extract will taste better. Invest in these since vanilla extracts may last a long time before it runs out.
  
• Sugar: Regular white sugar or cane sugar for this recipe. Brown sugar is also an alternative, however, it may take a longer time to dissolve when during the melting process.
  
• Water: Using filtered water will produce the best-tasting syrup. However, you can use the water that you have if there is no insight.

Procedure:

• Pour the sugar and water into a saucepan or pot and let it simmer. Stir the mixture until the sugar dissolves completely off the pan
  
• Turn down the heat and add the vanilla extract
  
• Pour the vanilla syrup into an airtight container

Extra Tips:

• Do not immediately pour the vanilla extract while melting the sugar since it can lose its flavor during the process. Only add it after taking off the heat after the sugar is dissolved.
  
• Airtight containers can store vanilla syrup in the refrigerator for 2 weeks
  
• Pour 1-2 tablespoons of your homemade syrup into your vanilla latte

3. Milk

You may use any type of milk you like. Using lactose-free milk is also perfect for people who are lactose intolerant. However, for a near Starbucks experience, it is recommended that you use 2% milk (otherwise known as reduced-fat milk) from your local grocery stores.

4. Ice

There are no specific rules for this. However, as much as possible, use filtered water when making the ice.

Step-by-step Procedure:

1. Pour 2 cups of the homemade iced coffee (espresso/cold brew) into a cup
2. Add 2 tablespoons of vanilla syrup
3. Add ½ cup of milk or cream
4. Put in 1 cup of ice

Extra Tips

• Stock a batch of homemade vanilla syrup to be used ahead of time to make several iced vanilla lattes in the future.
  
• Try going to your local Starbucks store and see if they have vanilla syrup in stock. This will leave you with an almost exact sweetness as the Starbucks Iced Vanilla Latte itself.
  
• If you have a French press at home, bring your homemade iced vanilla latte to the next level by customizing your drink and topping it with your own Starbucks Vanilla Sweet Cream Cold Foam.

Ingredients:

• Heavy Cream: They key ingredient to making cold foam as the cream creates a velvety texture during the frothing process
  
• 2% Milk: Also known as reduced-fat milk, this will help the thickness of the heavy cream to thin out its velvety richness. You may also use whole milk or skim as an alternative.
  
• Vanilla Syrup: You may use your homemade vanilla syrup to sweeten the cold foam. You can also purchase these from your local grocery stores.

Procedure:

• Put all the mentioned ingredients into a French press
  
• Enclose the French press by closing the lid and moving the plunger up and down
  
• Watch as the cold foam doubles in volume
  
• Pour the velvety cold foam on top of your homemade Starbucks Iced Vanilla Latte

Conclusion

Recreating your own Starbucks Iced Vanilla Latte copycat doesn’t need to be hard, you simply need 5 minutes and four ingredients that you can easily reach or make from the comforts of your home. All you need are espresso or homemade iced coffee, vanilla syrup, milk, and ice to start your making the famous iced vanilla latte.

Making batches of its ingredients, such as your homemade vanilla syrup, can also be stored and used to make more iced vanilla lattes in the future. You can also customize your drink by topping it with cold foam, which you can buy in stores or be made at home.

Comment your recipes or alternative ingredients below, or even ask questions to clarify things regarding this topic!