How to Make Pumpkin Cold Foam

Learn how to make a delicious Pumpkin Cold Foam drink, like the Starbucks Pumpkin Cream Cold Brew, but better! In other words, this is a Starbucks copycat recipe with improvements!

 

Last year I tried the Starbucks Pumpkin Cream Cold Brew for the first time.

And not gonna lie, I didn’t super like it. 

Don’t get me wrong, I loved the idea and some of the components. But it tasted a little bit fake, and a bit like chemicals. 

My homemade version is SO much better.

It’s made with a few simple ingredients, like real pumpkin puree and cream! You get all those lovely fall spices and flavors without the confusing, faux flavors.

Plus it’s really easy to make at home!

This is perfect when you want to experience all the warm spices of fall, but you’re not ready to give up your iced coffee just yet.

AKA it’s the perfect cold drink for that end-of-summer, almost fall season when you start to crave all things pumpkin. 

Okay, let’s make it!

Here’s a video demonstration in case you learn better that way. The written tutorial is below!

Ingredients:

NOTE: some of the links below are affiliate links, which means that if you click a link and make a purchase, I will earn a small commission. This has zero impact on the price you pay, and it helps Buttered Side Up out!

Okay, let’s go over the simple ingredients first!

I’ll discuss the cold brew ingredients first since that takes the longest to make (cold brew needs to steep for 10 to 20 hours).

For the Homemade Cold Brew:

• 1 ounce coarsely ground, dark roast coffee: When making cold brew, you want the coffee to be coarsely ground. Also, if you use a darker roast, the cold brew will most likely taste less acidic. 
• 1 cup cold/room temperature water: It’s a good idea to use filtered water for the best flavor, especially if your water is treated with chlorine. 
• Maple syrup or vanilla syrup (optional): The Starbucks version has vanilla syrup added to the cold brew. It’s up to you whether or not you’d like to add that as well.

For the Pumpkin Cold Foam:

• 3 tablespoons whipping cream: This lend some creaminess to the cold foam which I love. You can use either standard whipping cream or heavy whipping cream.
• 1 tablespoon cold milk: You’ll want to add some milk to the mixture to thin out the pumpkin foam. Otherwise it won’t mix with the coffee very well. I like to use whole milk to make it an even more creamy foam! I have not yet experimented with non-dairy milk, so use caution when substituting! 
• 1 tablespoon pure maple syrup: You could also use vanilla syrup or a simple syrup if you prefer. You could use white sugar in a pinch, but the final cold foam will be a little more thick. 
• A few drops of vanilla extract: To get that vanilla flavor without buying vanilla syrup, you can add a few drops of pure vanilla extract.
• 1 tiny pinch salt: When I tried the Starbucks pumpkin cold foam, it tasted a bit salty to me. So I like to add tiny pinch of salt. You can omit this if you prefer.
• 1/8 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice blend: This is where the flavor happens! I just love the flavors of pumpkin spice. You can either buy a pumpkin pie spice blend at the grocery store, make it yourself with my homemade recipe!
• 1 teaspoon pure pumpkin puree: This is optional, but it does enhance the pumpkin flavor. Make sure you purchase plain pumpkin puree, not pumpkin pie filling or pumpkin pie mix. There is a difference! You could also make your own pumpkin puree. 

Easy Cold Brew Recipe:

Okay, the first thing you want to do is get your cold brew steeping. 

I’m going to show you how to make your own cold brew coffee in a French press because that’s a super simple and easy way to make it! 

But you could also simply mix it together in a mason jar, and then strain it through cheese cloth or a coffee filter.

Okay, place the water and ground coffee in the canister of a French press. Place the lid on top, but don’t plunge it down just yet.

Set the coffee/water mixture aside at room temperature for 10 to 20 hours. 

After the coffee has brewed, plunge the French press down and pour the cold brew on top of some ice in your glass.

If you’re getting too much sludge in your glass, you can always strain the cold brew through cheese cloth placed in a fine mesh strainer. 

You could also store it in an airtight container in the refrigerator until you’re ready to mix together the final drink.

Other Iced Coffee Options:

You could also make an iced Americano with espresso and cold water. Or brew some coffee really strong and pour the hot coffee over ice and top up with cold water.

You could also use coffee ice cubes if you’re afraid of the ice diluting the flavor of the coffee too much as the hot coffee melts it. 

Or purchase cold brew at the store or online. 

Basically you want to fill a 12 ounce glass about 2/3 full of ice and strong coffee.

You can add some maple syrup or vanilla syrup to sweeten the cold brew if you like. Or you can allow the pumpkin cold foam to be the sweetener. 

How to Make Pumpkin Cold Foam:

Now that you have your cold brew made and ready to go, it’s time to make the pumpkin spice foam!

Place the cream, milk, maple syrup (or vanilla syrup), vanilla extract, salt, pumpkin pie spice blend, and pumpkin puree in a small glass or measuring cup.

Using a handheld milk frother, whip the mixture until it increases in volume and becomes foamy with large bubbles.

Now you don’t want to over-whip it. Otherwise the pumpkin cold foam will be too thick to mix with cold brew. It will just sit on top of the coffee in a lump.

You want it to have a creamy as well as foamy consistency with air bubbles. 

By the way, this is the handheld frother that I use. I’m loving it so far. You can buy it on Amazon here. 

Putting it All Together:

And now for the best part!

Pour the pumpkin cold foam over the cold brew and ice in the glass.

And watch the magic happen!

This is best if you drink it right away. Also, I prefer to drink it without a straw because that way the pumpkin sweet cream mixes with the coffee better.

What’s in the Starbucks Pumpkin Cream Cold Brew?

The Starbucks Pumpkin Cream Cold Brew is made from ice, cold brew, pumpkin cream cold foam, vanilla syrup, and pumpkin pie spice topping.

Here is the full ingredient list from Starbucks:

Ice, Brewed Coffee, Pumpkin Cream Cold Foam [Cream (Cream, Mono and Diglycerides, Carrageenan), Milk, Pumpkin Spice Sauce (Sugar, Condensed Skim Milk, Pumpkin Puree, Contains 2% or less of fruit and vegetable juice for color, Natural Flavors, Annatto, Salt, Potassium Sorbate), Vanilla Syrup (Sugar, Water, Natural Flavors, Potassium Sorbate, Citric Acid)], Vanilla Syrup [Sugar, Water, Natural Flavors, Potassium Sorbate, Citric Acid], Pumpkin Spice Topping [Cinnamon, Ginger, Nutmeg, and Cloves]

What is pumpkin cream cold foam made of?

The Starbucks pumpkin cream cold foam is made from a mixture of cream, milk, pumpkin spice sauce, and vanilla syrup. Since it’s made from cream as well as milk, it’s technically a sweet cream, not a cold foam. But Starbucks chose to call it cold foam, so that’s what I’m going with as well!

What is Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Topping?

The Starbucks pumpkin spice topping is simply a blend of cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and cloves. This is good news for us home baristas, because we can simply use pumpkin pie spice blend!

You can either use store-bought pumpkin pie spice or my homemade pumpkin pie spice recipe.

Is Starbucks pumpkin cold foam seasonal?

Yes, the Starbucks pumpkin cold foam is a seasonal drink, specifically for the fall season (AKA pumpkin season). Starbucks typically starts its fall drink menu at the end of August or beginning of September. 

But now that you have my homemade pumpkin cold foam recipe, you can enjoy it all year ’round!

How Much Sugar is in the Starbucks Pumpkin Cream Cold Brew?

A tall pumpkin cream cold brew from Starbucks contains 17 grams of sugar. A Grande contains 31 grams of sugar, a Venti contains 40 grams of sugar, and Trenta contains 48 grams of sugar.

How do you make cold foam without a frother?

There’s a couple different ways you can make cold foam without an electric milk frother:

• You could make a double batch and blend it in a regular blender. A single batch won’t work as well since the blender pitcher is quite large.
• Instead of a frother, you could use and hand mixer to whip everything together. Again, you may find it frustrating to make a single batch.
• Finally, you could use an immersion blender to foam up the pumpkin cold foam.

So that’s how to make my homemade Pumpkin Cream Cold Brew! If you make this recipe and enjoy it, please come back and leave a 5 star rating!

More Pumpkin Drinks:

• Homemade Pumpkin Spice Latte
• Maple Pumpkin Spice Golden Milk Latte

More Starbucks Drinks Recipes:

• Homemade Iced Sweet Cream Cold Foam Coffee
• Starbucks Hot Matcha Green Tea Latte Recipe
• Double Chocolate Chip Frappuccino Recipe
• Homemade London Fog Tea Latte
• Starbucks Peach Green Tea Lemonade Recipe
• Brown Sugar Oat Milk Shaken Espresso
• Oat Milk Latte

More Cold Drinks Recipes:

• How to Make Matcha Milk Tea
• Organic Lemonade Recipe
• Iced Chai Latte
• Healthy Dalgona Coffee with Honey
• Mocha Frappuccino Recipe

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