Name: Starbucks Vanilla Iced Latte Recipe
Prep time: 5 min
Yield: 12
Cuisine: American
Ingredients: 3/4 cup ice cubes; 3/4 cup whole milk (see note); 1 1/2 tablespoons vanilla syrup (see note); 1 shot espresso made with blonde roast coffee (see note)

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This copycat Starbucks Vanilla Iced Latte recipe is actually better than the original, and quite easy to make at home! This cold coffee drink is a great way to switch up your daily cup of joe!

Have you noticed your coffee shop bill creeping higher lately? If you’d like to do something about it, why not try your hand at making your favorite drink at home?

The Starbucks Iced Vanilla Latte is a great place to start because it’s one of their classic espresso beverages, it’s relatively easy to recreate, and the skills you learn will help you to replicate other coffee shop drinks.

Okay, let me show you how to make this cooling summer drink!

Video Tutorial:

Here’s a quick video demonstration of the recipe in case you prefer to learn by watching. The full written tutorial and printable recipe are below!

Ingredients:

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You’ll only need 4 simple ingredients to recreated the Starbies iced vanilla latte:

Coffee (duh): Starbucks uses their blonde espresso roast coffee (which I’ll talk about more below) for their iced vanilla latte.
Milk: Now Starbucks uses 2% milk, so for the most accurate recreation, you can use that. But when I tried the Starbucks version, it tasted a little watery to me. So I used whole milk here instead. I haven’t personally tried it, but I’m sure you could substitute oat milk or your favorite plant-based milk if you’re dairy free.
Syrup: obviously Starbucks uses their vanilla syrup to sweeten this drink. You can either use store-bought vanilla syrup, or I have a great recipe for Homemade Vanilla Syrup. For a tall iced vanilla latte, Starbucks uses 3 pumps of vanilla syrup. Keep in mind that 1 pump is half a tablespoon, so use 1 ½ tablespoons of syrup to recreate the Starbucks level of sweetness. You could also use maple syrup or a simple syrup and add 1/4 teaspoon of vanilla extract in a pinch!
Ice: I like to make my ice using these mini ice cube trays. Bonus: they’re made in the USA! But of course regular ice cubes will work perfectly fine. Coffee lovers could also make coffee ice cubes by freezing leftover coffee, but that’s totally optional!

What is Blonde Roast coffee?

Equal exchange espresso beans on top, Thrive Market blonde roast coffee on the bottom.

Starbucks’ blonde espresso roast is basically coffee that hasn’t been roasted as long as their “regular” espresso. In other words, it’s a light roast coffee. In other words, it’s a version of their coffee that isn’t burnt. 😉

So if your Starbucks coffee usually tastes burnt, but the iced vanilla latte doesn’t, that’s probably why.

Their blonde roast espresso has tasting notes of apple and bittersweet chocolate.

When I tried the iced vanilla latte for myself from my local Starbucks, I noticed a flavor that was hard for me to put my finger on: the word green came to mind, and also caramel or Werther’s Originals. So apple as a tasting note kind of makes sense with that.

Now Starbucks sells their Blonde Espresso Roast beans, but keep in mind that they aren’t organic or fair trade.

I actually found a blonde roast coffee from Thrive Market that’s ethically sourced direct from farmers. It has tasting notes of apple, almond, and brown sugar. And it tastes great.

But I’m sure that any light roast coffee will work here as well. Target sells an organic, fair trade, light roast coffee for a decent price.

How to Make a Starbucks Copycat Iced Vanilla Latte:

Okay, now it’s time to make the coffee!

A tall Starbucks iced latte is made with 1 shot of espresso. So if you own an espresso machine, you can simply pull a shot using the blonde roast coffee.

But if you don’t own a machine, no worries! I have a video tutorial showing 4 different ways to make espresso strength coffee without a fancy machine. I’ve got instructions for the French press, Aeropress, Moka Pot, and even instant coffee! Keep in mind that some of those methods yield a double shot’s worth of espresso.

I also have a tutorial for how to make espresso with a French press and instant coffee here on the blog if you prefer a written tutorial!

These alternate methods can’t quite replicate that rich espresso flavor, but they can come close!

Assembling the Drink

Now that you have the coffee made, the rest of the drink is easy to assemble!

First, place ¾ cup of ice cubes into a 12 ounce glass.
Next, pour ¾ cup of milk on top.
Add 1½ tablespoons of vanilla syrup.
Finally, pour the espresso on top.

And there you have an iced vanilla latte to rival Starbucks!

It’s perfect for sipping on a hot summer day.

How Does it Compare to Starbucks?

My homemade version is very similar to Starbucks, but better.

The flavors are richer and deeper.

Of course the quality of ingredients you select will affect the final flavor greatly.

Cost Comparison:

A tall Starbucks Iced Vanilla Latte will cost around $5.25 before taxes and tips.

If you use the same quality of ingredients as Starbucks, my homemade version will only cost around 58 cents to make.

That’s an incredible savings!

And even if you use all organic, ethical ingredients, it will still only cost around 80 cents to a dollar.

What’s in a Starbucks Iced Vanilla Latte?

The Starbucks iced blonde vanilla latte is made with ice, milk, espresso, and vanilla syrup.

Here’s the full ingredient list: Ice, Milk, Brewed Espresso, Vanilla Syrup (sugar, water, natural flavors, potassium sorbate, citric acid).

How Many Grams of Sugar in a Starbucks Iced Vanilla Latte?

A tall Starbucks iced vanilla latte contains 22 grams of sugar. A Grande has 28 grams of sugar, and a Venti has 41 grams of sugar.

What is the difference between the iced blonde vanilla latte and iced vanilla latte?

The only difference is the type of coffee that’s used to brew the espresso: The Iced blonde vanilla latte uses the Starbucks Blonde Espresso Roast, and the regular iced vanilla latte uses regular espresso roast.

Actually, Starbucks actually doesn’t have a “regular” iced vanilla latte on their menu: just the Blonde Vanilla Latte. You’ll have to order an Iced Caffè Latte and add pumps of vanilla if you don’t want it blonde.

How many pumps of vanilla syrup are in an iced vanilla latte?

Here are the number of pumps for the different sizes:

Tall: 3 pumps of vanilla
Grande: 4 pumps of vanilla
Venti: 6 pumps of vanilla

How many shots of espresso are in the iced blonde vanilla latte?

There are of course different numbers of shots of espresso in the different drink sizes:

Tall: 1 shot of espresso
Grande: 2 shots of espresso
Venti: 3 shots of espresso

How much caffeine is in a Starbucks iced vanilla latte?

Keep in mind that the caffeine amount is approximate, as it can vary depending on different factors:

Tall: 85 mg of caffeine
Grande: 170 mg of caffeine
Venti: 255 mg of caffeine

Now that you’ve learned how to make an iced latte, you can move on to the hot vanilla latte – the only new skill you’ll need to learn is how to froth milk. Or choose from my other homemade versions of classic Starbucks drinks below:

Other Starbucks Copycat Recipes:

More Coffee Recipes:

Recipe Card

Yield: 12 oz