This Starbucks copycat Brown Sugar Oat Milk Shaken Espresso is what you need this summer! This Brown Sugar Iced Coffee (Brown Sugar Iced Latte) is the seasonal Starbucks drink that is popular around where I live these days. Of course in Starbucks parlance, it’s called a Brown Sugar Oat Milk Shaken Espresso. Fancy name aside, this iced coffee is deeelicious! It’s one of my favorite summer liquid treats (aside from a coffee slushie or a Nutella frappuccino or this rose and vanilla flavored milkshake called falooda!). Since I can’t (or don’t want to) go to Starbucks every day, I brought their brown sugar oat milk shaken espresso home. And now you can too! Here, I’ll be sharing TWO different ways to make this drink.
With espresso – if you own an espresso machine With strong brewed coffee
But the first step is to make the brown sugar syrup.
How to make brown sugar oat milk shaken espresso
Brown sugar syrup
This brown sugar syrup is magic! It’s so good, I even sweetened whipped cream with the syrup, and made cream puffs with it too! The brown sugar syrup is made with,
Brown sugar Cinnamon Water Corn syrup (optional – to prevent the sugar syrup from crystallizing) Pinch of salt
As mentioned, the corn syrup is optional. If you’re only making enough syrup for the brown sugar iced coffee drinks that you’re going to make right away, then you can skip the corn syrup. However, if you want to make enough syrup to last a few days, corn syrup will prevent the sugar syrup from crystallizing as it cools. You can also use golden syrup in place of corn syrup. All the ingredients are whisked in a saucepan, and heated. Stir the syrup to dissolve the sugar and keep stirring frequently until the syrup comes to a boil. Boil the sugar syrup until it slightly thickens. The time will vary depending on how big your saucepan is, the heat from your stove, and how much of it that you’re making. So just keep an eye on the brown sugar cinnamon syrup as it cooks. You can use the syrup while still hot, or let it cool down as well.
How to make the iced coffee drink with espresso
What’s so shaken about the shaken espresso, you ask? The shaken part comes from shaking the double shot of espresso with the brown sugar syrup, and then topping it with oat milk. I have a Breville barista express at home, and I use a double shot that I pull from this machine for each iced brown sugar oat milk shaken espresso drink. Place the espresso shot (about 60 mL) with the brown sugar syrup in a shaker. This can be a cocktail shaker, or a mason jar (or any jar) with a lid. Add a few ice cubes and shake / stir together. Pour this into a glass, and top it with more ice. Pour over cold oat milk to top up the espresso. Serve immediately. Stir and drink! I only add about 150 – 200 mL of oat milk per brown sugar iced coffee drink.
How to make this brown sugar iced coffee drink with strong coffee
Espresso is obviously how they make this brown sugar oat milk shaken espresso at Starbucks. However, you don’t need an espresso machine to make this drink at home! You can also make this brown sugar iced coffee with strongly brewed coffee instead. Brew coffee that is at least double the strength of regular coffee. You can use an aeropress, cold brew coffee, drip coffee, or French press coffee to make this. To avoid diluting the coffee with more ice, let the coffee cool down in the fridge or freezer until it’s at room temperature or colder. I like to make the coffee the night before, and let it sit in the fridge overnight. Add the brown sugar syrup and shake (or stir). Pour the sweetened coffee mixture into a glass and top it with ice. Pour cold oat milk on top (about 150 mL). Serve immediately.
How I like to make this brown sugar oat milk shaken espresso
I know iced coffee at every coffee shop ever is almost always a rip off. 30% coffee and 70% ice is not what I pay money for. I also don’t like too much ice in my iced coffee because I drink my coffee slowly. So the ice invariably melts and dilutes my drink. So, here’s how I make the drink to minimize the amount of added ice. Instead of shaking the espresso and brown sugar syrup with ice, I stir the ice cube with the mixture. This makes the espresso mix cold with less of the ice melting. If you’re making strongly brewed coffee, then you can make the coffee the day before and let it sit in the fridge for a few hours / overnight. This way you don’t need to add ice to the coffee brown sugar mix. I make the drink in a smaller glass. I either add only a few ice cubes (without filling the glass with ice), and then top the drink with very cold oat milk. With fewer ice cubes, there’s less dilution. I only add about 150 mL – 200 mL of oat milk per drink. Maybe less for a stronger drink, but definitely not more. However, if you have whiskey stones, you can use these instead to chill your drink. Whiskey stones will keep your drink cold without diluting the drink. I don’t own whiskey stones, so I haven’t tried this myself.
Why I love this recipe!
If you’re looking for the same sweetness level as the Starbucks iced brown sugar oat milk shaken espresso, you may need to use about 3 tbsp of the brown sugar syrup. However (and not surprisingly), my husband and I find that to be a little too sweet. Making this iced coffee drink at home means that you can adjust the brown sugar syrup to your taste! We only add about 1 1/2 tbsp – 2 tbsp per drink. I can also use my favorite oat milk to make my coffee – Earths own barista oat milk. And you could even use homemade oat milk to make this iced coffee! This iced brown sugar oat milk espresso drink is incredibly delicious (even surprisingly so), and I can make it any old time I want. And that brown sugar syrup is glorious! It’ll taste amazing with anything.
