This Starbucks copycat recipe for Irish Cream Cold Brew is sweet and creamy. It's so good that you'll be whipping up this cold seasonal favorite all year 'round!
It wasn't until recently that I realized that this drink is a winter holiday seasonal beverage, rather than one designed for St. Patrick's Day. As much as I love to drink cold coffee all year long, one doesn't necessarily associate cold brew with the month of December. But honestly, after one sip, you'll understand why Starbucks puts this drink out when they do. It's creamy and sweet, and is a tad chocolatey. It totally makes sense as a holiday drink!
Looking for more Starbucks copycat recipes? Try my Sweet Cream Cold Foam or Iced Peppermint Mocha!
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🌟 Why You'll Love This Recipe
It is delicious. This drink is sweet, creamy, and a bit chocolatey. All in all, a perfect Winter seasonal drink.
It tastes just like the drink from Starbucks. This is a Starbucks copycat recipe, so it will taste just like the real thing.
It's very easy to make! All you really need to do is froth up a few ingredients and pour it over cold coffee!
💭 What is Irish Cream Cold Brew?
Irish Cream Cold Brew is a cold coffee drink that first appeared on Starbucks' menu in 2019. It's a delicious seasonal beverage, appearing on the winter holiday menu.
Breaking it down into it's component parts, it's basically: 1) cold brew coffee; 2) Irish Cream Syrup; 3) sweet cream cold foam; and 4) a dusting of cocoa powder.
📝 Ingredients
- Cream: You want to make sure to use heavy cream for this recipe. The high fat content of heavy cream will help you to achieve a really creamy cold foam.
- Milk: Use 2% milk. It will help to give you the texture, flavor, and consistency that mimics the Starbucks Irish cream cold foam.
- Irish Cream Syrup: This syrup goes into the cold foam and the coffee itself. You can use store bought or homemade Irish Cream Syrup for this recipe.
- Cold brew coffee: You can use either store bought or homemade cold brew coffee.
- Cocoa powder: All you need is a dusting of cocoa powder on top of the cold foam to finish things off.
👩🏻🍳 How do you make Irish Cream Cold Brew?
You'll start out by pouring cream, milk, and some of the Irish Cream Syrup into a glass or jar.
After that, you'll take your milk frother and submerge the tip of it in the liquid. Froth the liquid for 20-30 seconds.
You'll froth the cold foam until it is thick and creamy and has increased in volume. Make sure that you stop frothing before you create soft peaks. We don't want whipped cream!
Next, you'll take your cold brew, pour it over ice, and add the remaining Irish Cream Syrup to the glass.
Gently pour your Irish cream cold foam on top of the cold brew.
Look at it! So creamy and decadent!
Last, and this isn't 100% mandatory, you'll dust a wee bit of cocoa powder over top of the cold foam.
There's cocoa powder in the Irish Cream Syrup, so in addition to looking pretty, this is a nice indication of what kind of flavors you can expect to encounter, even before taking a sip.
How to make Irish Cream Cold Foam without a milk frother
Although I pretty much exclusively use a milk frother to make my cold foam, if you don't have one, you do have other options!
You can put all of the ingredients in a bowl and whisk them by hand. You'll need to put in a little elbow grease, but this will get the job done.
You can also use a regular blender. Pour the ingredients into the blender and blend until you reach the desired consistency.
Same thing goes for using an immersion blender: pour the ingredients into a jar or glass and submerge the end of the blender into the liquid. Blend until you reach the desired consistency of your cold foam.
🔗 Other coffee drinks
Looking for other delicious coffee drinks? Maybe Starbucks copycat recipes? Because I got you. Check out the photos and links below for some really tasty treats from my blog as well as from other great bloggers.
- How to Make Sweet Cream Cold Foam from A Nerd Cooks
- Cold Brew Iced Mocha from Heartbeet Kitchen
- Chocolate Cream Cold Foam from A Nerd Cooks
- Iced White Chocolate Mocha from Bake and Bacon
- How to Make Cold Foam from A Nerd Cooks
- S'mores Iced Coffee from Nutmeg Nanny
- Pumpkin Cold Foam from A Nerd Cooks
- Iced Pumpkin Spice Latte from A Nerd Cooks
❓ FAQs/Tips and tricks
Nope, scroll up to the section called "How to make Irish Cream Cold Foam without a milk frother" to see what your options are.
Yes! This is a Starbucks copycat recipe, so it will taste just like the Irish Cream Cold Brew from Starbucks.
If you're planning to serve it right away, just scale up the ingredients, blend/whip, and divide it up between the glasses. If you want to make a batch to blend up throughout the week, you can combine the ingredients in an airtight container and store it in the fridge. Simply pour some out when you're ready to whip it up and top your coffee.
If you don't want to make your own (it's so easy!), you can definitely use a store bought syrup.
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✨ Recipe
Irish Cream Cold Brew
Equipment
Ingredients
- 2 ounces heavy cream
- 1 ounce 2% milk
- 1 ounce Irish Cream Syrup divided
- cold brew coffee
- cocoa powder for dusting
Instructions
- Pour the heavy cream, milk, and 0.5 ounces of the Irish Cream Syrup into a jar or glass.
- Using a milk frother, froth the cold foam for 20-30 seconds, or until it is thick and creamy. Stop short of forming soft peaks (i.e., don't make whipped cream).
- Pour the cold brew and remaining Irish Cream Syrup into a glass with ice.
- Pour the cold foam onto the cold brew.
- Dust with cocoa powder, if desired.
Notes
- You can use store bought or homemade Irish Cream Syrup
Nutrition
Disclaimer: Nutritional information is a generated estimate and is not guaranteed to be accurate.
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