Upgrade your cold brew coffee this fall! Add a layer of cold foam for a Starbucks inspired pumpkin cream cold brew recipe.

I have cold brew coffee all year round. It’s a cold coffee beverage, but I’ll have it even in the coldest days of winter. (Anyone else like me?!)

But when fall arrives, I like to have some spices and flavors of the season incorporated into my cups of coffee.

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One easy way to upgrade your cold brew coffee this fall is with this Starbucks inspired pumpkin cream cold brew recipe.

Here we’ll cover what pumpkin cream cold brew is and how to make it.

Don’t worry if you don’t have some of the coffee tools that I used. I’ve added a few alternative methods so you can make this right away and get the tools later to make it all season long.

Click here to skip to the recipe.

What is in Starbucks pumpkin cream cold brew?

The Starbucks pumpkin cream cold brew is a seasonal beverage that appears on the menu at around the same time as the Pumpkin Spice Latte.

It is cold brew coffee sweetened with vanilla syrup, topped with a layer of pumpkin flavored cold foam and sprinkled with pumpkin spice.

The ingredients on the Starbucks website lists the following: Ice, Brewed Coffee, Pumpkin Cream Cold Foam (Cream, Mono And Diglycerides, Carageenan), Milk, Pumpkin Spice Sauce Vanilla Syrup and Pumpkin Spice Topping.

What is cold foam?

On the list of ingredients, there’s a thing called pumpkin cream cold foam.

What is cold foam?

This is that yellowish layer on top of the cold brew coffee. It’s basically cold frothed milk.

It’s like having a layer of foamed milk on top of a cappuccino. Except if you’ve ever tried putting that same warm milk on top of cold brew coffee, it’d make the cold brew coffee not so cold right away.

That’s why cold foam exists. You can still have your layer of milk foam without having to worry about lukewarm coffee.

Starbucks has various flavors to choose from like cocoa and salted honey and the seasonal ones like pumpkin cream.

I did a little research and found that Starbucks uses a special type of blender on a certain setting to make cold foam. I’m willing to bet most of us probably don’t have this special blender at home, so I’ve found other various methods to make cold foam at home.

Pumpkin Cream Cold Brew Ingredients

1 cup cold brew coffee
1 teaspoon vanilla syrup
¼ cup skim milk
½ tablespoon pumpkin
⅛ tsp pumpkin pie spice
Milk frother

Cold brew coffee

Cold brew coffee is made by steeping coarsely ground coffee in water for 12-14 hours. Unlike other coffee brewing methods, hot water is not required.

You can make this in 3 easy ways – with a cold brew coffee maker, French press or any empty jar you have lying around the house. Read our guide for details on how to make cold brew coffee.

If you want to make this recipe right away and don’t want to wait 12 hours to make cold brew coffee, just use iced coffee. Brew coffee in any method you prefer – with a drip coffee maker, French press, moka pot… then add ice to it to make it cold.

Vanilla syrup

I used Monin vanilla syrup.

You can use any store bought vanilla syrup or make your own at home. To make a vanilla simple syrup, just put one part sugar to one part water over the stove top on medium heat and stir until the sugar dissolves. Turn off the heat and stir in vanilla extract.

The milk ratio

As mentioned, Starbucks has a special machine to make their cold foam. And since I don’t have this machine, I’ve played around with the types of milk and ratios to find the milk ratio I like best.

I’ve tried making it with whole milk, skim milk, half and half, heavy cream, coffee creamers and milk alternatives. Skim milk will froth the best.

However, the ratio I prefer is 3 tablespoons of skim milk with 1 tablespoon of heavy cream. With this ratio, I found the milk won’t seep into the cold brew right away as I start pouring.

Pumpkin

I used organic canned pumpkin from Farmer’s Market. If you prefer, you can also use freshly made pumpkin puree.

Pumpkin pie spice

I used store bought pumpkin pie spice.

Pumpkin pie spice is a blend of spices typically used for making pumpkin pie. But we use it a lot for our fall coffee beverages too.

If you don’t have this at home right now, you can also make it yourself as long as you have a few spices on hand.

To make homemade pumpkin spice, measure 1 teaspoon ground allspice, 1 teaspoon ground cloves, 1 teaspoon ground ginger, 2 teaspoons ground nutmeg and 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon. Mix the spices together and store it in a mason jar. This should be more than enough for several servings of pumpkin cream cold brew.

Frothing tool

I used an automatic milk frother.

I recommend using a milk frother since it’s really convenient.

Let the milk froth while pouring the cold brew coffee in a glass and the drink is done in just around 5 minutes. Plus, there are warm settings, so you can use the milk frother for warm coffee beverages too.

If you want to make pumpkin cream cold brew right now and don’t have a milk frother, here are some other tools you can use:

French press – pull the plunger up and down vigorously until foam forms
Mason jar – shake vigorously until foam forms
Handheld milk frother
Blender – blend on medium speed, check every few seconds for desired consistency

For this recipe, I used the Miroco Electric Milk Frother.