If you love the Pumpkin Cream Cold Brew from Starbucks, you're going to love this easy and affordable copycat recipe you can at home. You need a few simple ingredients and can make a batch once that will last a few days.
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I wait all year for Starbucks to release their pumpkin cream cold brew. It's THE BEST. So much better than the PSL in my opinion. But sometimes I don't love the ingredient list or the price tag. So I came up with this homemade Starbucks Pumpkin Cream Cold Brew for you (and me!).
What we love about this recipe
- It's really affordable! It's made with ingredients you probably already have.
- You get to control what's in it. It's a cleaner version without any added ingredients you don't need. Make it as sweet or not sweet as you want!
- It's dairy free, which is so awesome because although I love the Starbs version, I don't eat much dairy. I'm also sharing a dairy option if you don't like coconut.
Ingredient notes
- Coconut cream: you can use a full fat can of coconut milk or buy coconut cream separately. You'll chill the can to separate the coconut milk/water from the cream and only use the cream part! You can find this in either the baking aisle or the ethnic foods aisle (i.e Asian cuisine).
- Pumpkin puree: this is not pumpkin pie filling, it's just plain 100% pumpkin!
- Sweetener: I used powdered Truvia sugar, but maple syrup would be great too.
- Pumpkin pie spice: this is what gives the drink so much pumpkin flavor! Adjust more or less based on your taste.
- Vanilla extract: get a good pure vanilla for this because it really makes a difference!
- Dairy free milk: this helps thin out the coconut cream and makes it super smooth.
- Cold brew: you can use your favorite store bought or homemade cold brew or iced coffee.
- Optional coffee flavor: feel free to add sweetener to your actual cold brew before making the cream! I like to add a vanilla syrup or even just some maple syrup to sweeten it a bit.
Pumpkin Cream Cold Brew FAQs
The pumpkin cream cold brew isn't the healthiest drink on the Starbucks menu. It's full of sugar in the actual cold brew as well as in the cream on top. It also cannot be made dairy free if you want it that way.
Order the cold brew with sugar free syrup and ask for only one pumpkin of pumpkin in your cream. This will help lower the amount of sugar, although it's still sweet from the fake sugar.
There are 250 calories and 31g of sugar in the 16oz Starbucks version.
How to make the pumpkin cream cold brew recipe at home
- Prepare the cold brew: You can use a store bought cold brew or brew a really strong batch of coffee at home and chill it in the fridge. Feel free to add a sugar free vanilla syrup, regular vanilla syrup or maple syrup to your coffee to sweeten it.
- Blend: Next, add all of the pumpkin cream ingredients to the blender and blend on high for about 30 seconds until it's completely smooth.
- Serve: pour the cold brew in a glass over ice then top it with a generous serving of pumpkin cream. Top with a dusting of extra pumpkin pie spice.
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Recipe substitutions and variations
- Coconut cream: if you aren't dairy free or don't like coconut, feel free to use heavy cream. Omit the almond milk and blend the mixture longer to allow more air bubble to make the heavy creamy fluffy.
- Truvia powder: this is a zero calorie sweetener that dissolves really easily in the cream so it's not grainy. You could try maple syrup too. Another option is to make a simple syrup by dissolving sugar in boiling water on the stove. You could add all of these to the cold brew itself too.
Expert Tips
- The consistency of the coconut cream could vary based on how long it's in the fridge. If your coconut cream is really hard and thick, you may need to add more almond milk to thin it out.
- Add more or less sweetener depending on your taste.
Storage instructions
Blended pumpkin cream will last in a sealed container in the fridge for up to 3 days. You could make a batch, store the cream in the fridge for the next day and have an easy pumpkin cream cold brew ready when you wake up.
If you make this recipe, I’d love for you to give it a star rating ★ below. You can also tag me on Instagram so I can see it!
More drinks you'll love:
Recipe
Pumpkin Cream Cold Brew Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 (14 ounce) can of full fat coconut milk or coconut cream chilled for at least 2 hours with the cream separated (we're only using the cream part)
- 2 tablespoons pumpkin puree
- 2 tablespoons powdered sugar or monkfruit/truvia powdered sugar use more if you want it sweeter
- 3/4 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice plus more for dusting
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 tablespoons almond milk plus more if needed
- 20 ounces store bought or homemade cold brew coffee
- Optional: vanilla extract and sweetener for cold brew *see notes
Instructions
- Add the coconut cream, pumpkin pure, your sweetener of choice, pumpkin pie spice, vanilla and almond milk to a blender. Blend on high for about 30 seconds, until it's smooth and creamy. Add more almond milk a tablespoon at a time if it's too thick. Taste the mixture and add more sweetener if you want to.
- Pour the cold brew over a cup of ice. Add any additional sweetener you want to the coffee like vanilla syrup, maple syrup or a simple syrup.
- Top the iced coffee with the prepared pumpkin cream and dust extra pumpkin pie spice on top.
Notes
- Sugar free or regular vanilla syrup
- Liquid stevia
- Pure maple syrup
- Simple syrup: dissolve granulated sugar in boiling water on the stove.
Amy says
How much heavy cream do you sub for the coconut? Since we're only using the separated part of the 14oz can (and I really hate the taste of coconut) I wanted to try the other option. Thanks!
Molly Thompson says
Hey Amy! It's about 1/2 cup!
ashley lober says
Hey! Do you mean pumpkin puree?
Molly Thompson says
Sure do!! 🙂