Starbucks Pumpkin Cream Cold Brew Copycat Recipe

For us, there are few things that rival walking down Main Street U.S.A with Starbucks in hand. The smells, the sights, the coffee… it’s pure bliss really. Fall and Halloween have meant an annual trip to Walt Disney World for almost a decade now; so not being able to experience this year gave us the fun excuse to recreate a little bit of Disney Halloween magic at home. We discovered the Pumpkin Cream Cold Brew during last year’s fall trip to Walt Disney World and knew we needed that kind of joy in our lives at this moment. So we set out on a mission to create a Starbucks’ Pumpkin Cream Cold Brew copycat recipe.

Contents

1 Starbucks Pumpkin Cream Cold Brew at home
2 Pumpkin Cold Brew Ingredients
3 Pumpkin Cream Cold Foam Tips
4 Pumpkin Cream Cold Brew Assembly

Starbucks Pumpkin Cream Cold Brew at home

Let me start by saying, this recipe was harder to master than it seemed! From the flavor to the texture, it was a little tricky. But now we can now enjoy Starbucks Pumpkin Cream Cold Brew while sitting out on our patio, listening to the sights and sounds of Magic Kingdom on YouTube or just strolling around the neighborhood pretending every pumpkin we see is Mickey shaped. It’s fine, right?

What do you need to make Pumpkin Cream Cold Brew?

Ok so what do you need to make Pumpkin Cream Cold Brew? Not a lot actually! We created our own pumpkin syrup for this recipe, but you can also purchase a pumpkin syrup or sauce if you don’t want to make it yourself.

You’ll also need cold brew, vanilla syrup, milk of choice and pumpkin pie spice.

Pumpkin Cold Brew Ingredients

To put it all together, here’s what you’ll need:

Cold Brew Coffee
Pumpkin Syrup (see recipe below or you can grab something like this)
Vanilla Syrup (you can purchase vanilla syrup here or make your own)
Milk of Choice
Ice
Pumpkin Pie Spice

How to Make Pumpkin Cream Cold Brew Syrup

We started by making a pumpkin syrup. This pumpkin syrup is so easy to make and so delicious. And it can be used in a lot of things, which is great! Put it in your coffee, cocoa, use it to flavor whipped cream… I could go on. Leave it up to your imagination! The pumpkin syrup just uses five ingredients: water, sugar, pumpkin, cinnamon and pumpkin pie spice.

After you make the syrup, you can set is aside in a mason jar or other container and leave it un the fridge until you are ready to use it. You’ll want it to be cold when you mix it in the foam anyway.

Pumpkin Syrup

October 19, 2020

Difficulty: Easy

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By: Melanie Renee

Ingredients

1 c. water
1 c. sugar
4 TBSP pumpkin puree
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice

Directions

Step 1 Add all ingredients to small saucepan.
Step 2 On medium heat, heat up all ingredients until sugar dissolves, stirring occasionally until all ingredients are combined.
Step 3 Remove from heat and let cool.
Step 4 Store in mason jar or other container in refrigerator until ready to use.

How to Make Cold Brew

For your cold brew, you’ll have a lot of options. You can purchase your favorite cold brew at the grocery store or make some at home. We like the Starbucks Cold Brew Pitcher Packs because they’re super simple, budget friendly and taste great. You can also make cold brew using a French Press, which is really easy; but you can see how to do that here if you’re not familiar with the process.

How to Make the Pumpkin Cream Foam

Finally, the trickiest part of the Pumpkin Cream Cold Brew is the Pumpkin Cold Foam. Truly, you can use whatever milk you want for this foam. But if you want the most luxurious Pumpkin Cold Foam with pretty close to perfect texture, it’s a little more complicated than that. We were on a mission to perfect this part of it. Since the Pumpkin Cold Foam is basically the reason we get the Pumpkin Cream Cold Brew, we wanted it to be as close to Starbucks’ version as possible.

What kind of Milk Can I use?

We tried whole milk, 2% milk, Oat Milk, Almond Milk, Heavy Cream and Half and Half as well as a variety of frothers and mixers before deciding we were happy with our foam. In the end, we used a mix of half and half and heavy cream and a super simple handheld frother to get that foamy goodness we all love.

If you’re looking for a non dairy option, we’ve used this special Barista edition of oat milk that has always given us great results and it’s gluten free! One thing to keep in mind when choosing your milk is that the higher the fat content, the fluffier your foam will be. So if you’re using a lower fat milk or milk alternative, just know that getting the texture close to Starbucks’ might be a challenge.

Pumpkin Cream Cold Foam Tips

Now the tricky part is getting that lovely, cloud like foam to top your cold brew. There are a few tips you need to keep in mind here.

First, even if you don’t think cold brew needs ice (it doesn’t, right?), in this case, it does. The ice will help create that beautiful layer of foam and keep it from falling too quickly into the cold brew.

Secondly, mixing your milk to the right consistency is what will make or break this Pumpkin cold foam. That’s why we chose the mixture of half and half and heavy cream; but regardless of what you use, you need to froth it until it’s almost at a soft peak stage to ensure that it’s nice and fluffy.

If you choose not to use the combination of milks that we did, using a stand mixer with a whisk, or using a food processor can usually whip enough air to create a nice cloud of foam. Using solely heavy cream is probably your best bet if you’re not into having a lot of extra ingredients, but be careful not to over whip the foam because then you’ll end up with something more like whipped cream. Although still delicious, it’s not really what we are going for in this recipe.

Patience is really the key here, especially if you are using a frother with a little less power. Some milks, especially those with lower fat content as mentioned before, can take a long time to whip up. This Keurig Frother takes only 60 seconds and is truly a good investment if you love lattes; but if you’re using a nontraditional frother, it may take a bit longer.

Pumpkin Cream Cold Brew Assembly

When you’re ready to put it all together, it’s pretty simple! Just add ice to the glass of your choice, pour in the cold brew and vanilla syrup and top with foam! We like extra foam on ours of course, so feel free to add as much as you’d like. See below for full recipe.