Although an iced coffee drink enthusiast, I usually shy away from the pre-made drinks at any coffeeshop. I like my coffee with one sugar at most, and those pre-made drinks are often SO sweet for my personal preferences. But I recently tried the Iced Brown Sugar Oatmilk Shaken Espresso from Starbucks and Y'ALL - it's AMAZING.
Turns out, iced shaken espresso drinks are really simple to make at home, and for a fraction of the price. All you need is a way to make espresso shots (for me, a Nespresso Machine), and a few simple ingredients ( creamy oat milk, homemade simple syrup made with brown sugar, a dash of cinnamon) and VOILA: a Starbucks copycat recipe that tastes just like the real deal served in their coffee shops.
It tastes like an oatmeal cookie, but with coffee. And cold. It's just ... brilliant. And now I dream of it. I want it every morning.
Do you know what I DON'T want every morning? To deal with Starbucks. To pay $5.50 for a COFFEE. Hard pass.
So what's in the Iced Brown Sugar Oatmilk Shaken Espresso?
- Espresso
- Brown Sugar Syrup
- Cinnamon
- Vanilla
- Full Fat Oat Milk
How to make a Starbucks Shaken Espresso?
Like a cocktail - you'll shake the espresso vigorously with ice in a cocktail shaker or a mason jar, then layer it over more ice with a flavored syrup ( as regular sugar doesn't really play nicely with iced drinks ), and top with full fat oat milk.
What kind of oatmilk does Starbucks use?
As mentioned above, Full Fat! As for brand, they use Oatly, which is my preferred brand at home as well.
As called out in the recipe card, Full Fat! As for brand, they use Oatly, which is my preferred brand at home as well.
The "full fat" part of the "full fat oat milk" is important! It's what gives the Brown Sugar Oat Milk Shaken Espresso from Starbucks that fantastic Iced Oatmeal Cookie latte flavor. If you can't find full fat, you can go with the Regular oat milk, but I do not recommend the light/low fat as it won't give you that rich creamy oat milk flavor.
If oat milk is not your milk of choice, some good plant-based milk alternatives are cashew milk and soy milk. If you aren't after a non-dairy milk option, cow milk is a great substitute as well. I do not recommend almond milk, as it tends to taste watery with this particularly rich espresso recipe.The "full fat" part of the "full fat oat milk" is important! It's what gives the Brown Sugar Oat Milk Shaken Espresso from Starbucks that fantastic Iced Oatmeal Cookie latte flavor. If you can't find full fat, you can go with the Regular oat milk, but I do not recommend the light/low fat as it won't give you that rich creamy oat milk flavor.
If oat milk is not your milk of choice, some good plant-based milk alternatives are cashew milk and soy milk. If you aren't after a non-dairy milk option, cow milk is a great substitute as well. I do not recommend almond milk, as it tends to taste watery with this particularly rich espresso recipe.
Other Starbucks Copycats you might like:
📖 Recipe
Iced Brown Sugar Oatmilk Shaken Espresso - Starbucks Copycat
Ingredients
- ½ cup water
- ¼ cup brown sugar I use dark brown sugar but light brown sugar is fine if it's all you have
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- 3 ounces espresso (3 shots of espresso)
- 4 ounces Full Fat Oatly Oatmilk
Instructions
Make Brown Sugar Syrup
- Microwave the water to bring to a boil, or bring it to a boil on the stove in a small pan. Remove from the heat and stir in the brown sugar until it has completely dissolved.Stir the cinnamon and vanilla into the brown sugar syrup. The cinnamon will NOT dissolve.
Iced Brown Sugar Oatmilk Shaken Espresso
- Vigorously shake 3 ounces of espresso in either a cocktail shaker or a mason jar with the lid closed tightly. Fill a tall glass with ice, strain the espresso over the ice. If you used a mason jar to shake the espresso, simply open the jar and fill it up the rest of the way with ice.Pour 1 teaspoon of homemade brown sugar syrup over the espresso. Add more if you want it sweeter.Pour 3 to 4 ounces of oatmilk on top of that, and serve!
Parveen says
Hello
Thank you for the recipe.
Pl Can you tell me where can I buy expresso and was it liquor expresso or powder.
Parveen
Brandi says
Just made your exact recipe…tastes exactly like Starbucks…thank you so much!!
Brittany says
I had to tweak it only because I forgot the ground cinnamon at the store but omg you are truly a life saver thank you so very much for this recipe! I didn't use the vanilla extract, I did use premade espresso unsweetened in the fridge section at the store and used the oatmilk barista blend but it says for the premade espresso is only good 7 days after opening it was $9.99 so surely I can use it for like at least 3 to 4 weeks right or no?
Raven says
This is good! I doubled the brown sugar syrup recipe because I knew I would want extra to use throughout the week. I definitely used a lot, more than one teaspon of syrup, probably 3+ tablespoons if not more (I didn't measure but it was quite a bit lol). Definitely worth the little bit of effort!
Raquel says
I was really looking forward to this but unfortunately it didn’t turn out for me. I didn’t really taste any flavor. 🙁
Kate says
I found the same at first but then added about 2 more table spoons of brown sugar and bam was on point ! Also try sprinkling a dash of brown sugar on top once complete 🙂