Pumpkin Cream Cold Brew (Starbucks Copycat)

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This copycat pumpkin cream cold brew takes five minutes and it’s the one I make when I want fall to start early. Smooth cold brew, a thick pumpkin cold foam that actually floats on top instead of sinking straight through, and a dusting of pumpkin pie spice over everything. No espresso machine, no frother required, and it costs a fraction of what you’d pay at the drive-thru.

What finally got mine right was using real pumpkin puree in the foam instead of a bottled sauce, and putting the vanilla syrup down in the coffee rather than more pumpkin in the cream. That’s how Starbucks actually builds it, and it’s why theirs tastes balanced instead of like a candle. If you already make my Starbucks vanilla sweet cream cold brew, you’re one tablespoon of pumpkin away from this one.

Pumpkin cream cold brew in a tall glass with thick pumpkin cold foam floating on top.

Why This Recipe Works
Key Ingredients
Substitutions And Additions
How To Make Pumpkin Cream Cold Brew
Expert tips
Starbucks Pumpkin Cream Cold Brew FAQd
More Starbucks Fall Recipe Favorites
Pumpkin Cream Cold Brew (Starbucks Copycat) Recipe

Why This Recipe Works

Real pumpkin puree, not a bottled sauce, so you actually taste pumpkin and not just spice.
Five minutes. That’s it! No espresso machine, no steaming, no barista skills.
Three ways to froth it: blender, handheld wand, or a jar with a tight lid. You already own one of these.
The foam actually floats. It sits up top and sinks down slowly through the coffee like it does at the store instead of disappearing in ten seconds.
115 calories a serving versus 250 in a grande, and that’s only because you’re the one deciding how much syrup goes in.
Bottled cold brew works great. So does concentrate, and I’ve got a whole guide on cold brew concentrate ratios if that’s what’s in your fridge.

Key Ingredients

Labeled ingredients for pumpkin cream cold brew including cream, milk, pumpkin puree, and vanilla syrup.

Full measurements are down in the recipe card! Here’s what each thing is doing, so you know what you can mess with and what you really can’t.

Heavy whipping cream and cold milk. The cream is what gives your foam structure and the milk keeps it from turning into straight up whipped cream. Both need to be cold, like straight out of the fridge cold, or it just won’t froth. Whole milk gives you the best body but skim is fine, use what you’ve got.
Pure pumpkin puree. One tablespoon. I know that sounds like nothing but trust me on it, go heavier and the foam gets too dense to float. And it has to be plain puree, not pie filling (more on that down in the FAQs).
Vanilla syrup. This sweetens the foam AND the coffee underneath it, and that second part is what everybody skips. Starbucks puts vanilla in the cold brew itself, which is exactly why theirs tastes balanced. I use my homemade coffee syrups so I can pull the sugar back a little.
Pumpkin pie spice. Goes in the foam and gets dusted over the top at the end. My homemade pumpkin pie spice blend takes two minutes and tastes so much better than the jar that’s been in your cabinet since last October (we all have one).
Cold brew coffee. Store bought is totally fine, no notes. If you’re using concentrate, check the ratio first or it comes out tasting like syrup.

Substitutions And Additions

Maple syrup instead of vanilla. My second favorite version! It goes warmer and a little more caramel-y, and it’s what I switch to in October once I’m fully committed to the season.
Pumpkin spice sauce instead of the puree and spice. If you’ve got a jar of my copycat Starbucks pumpkin spice sauce in the fridge, use 2 tablespoons of it and skip both the puree and the vanilla syrup in the foam. Closest you’ll get to the drive-thru version.
Sweetened condensed milk for a thicker foam. Swap 1 tablespoon of the vanilla syrup for 1 tablespoon of sweetened condensed milk. Same move I use in my vanilla sweet cream cold foam and it holds way longer.
Dairy free. Full fat oat milk barista blend plus chilled canned coconut cream in place of the heavy cream. It froths! Just not quite as stiff.
A pinch of salt. Tiny thing, big payoff. It sharpens up the pumpkin and keeps the foam from tasting flat, same reason I salt my brown sugar cold foam.
Decaf. Decaf cold brew and boom, afternoon drink.

How To Make Pumpkin Cream Cold Brew

Cream, milk, pumpkin puree, and vanilla syrup added to a glass jar before frothing.

Cream, milk, pumpkin puree, vanilla syrup, pumpkin pie spice. All of it goes in at once, no fancy order. Use a blender or a hand held frother in a glass cup or jar.

Frothed pumpkin cold foam thickened to a pourable texture that coats the back of a spoon.

You want it to thicken and get lighter in color. Think thin melted milkshake, thick enough to coat a spoon but still pourable. Keep an eye on it though! Past 45 seconds or so and you’ve made whipped cream.

Cold brew coffee poured into am ice filled glass pumpkin cold foam layered neatly on top.

Fill two glasses with ice, split the cold brew between them, and stir a tablespoon of vanilla syrup into each if you like it sweet. Leave yourself about an inch and a half at the top for the foam. Pour the cold foam on top of them and dust with pumpkin pie spice and drink it before the foam settles! Enjoy as is or with a side of my soft pumpkin cinnamon rolls!

No blender? No problem. Handheld frother in a tall skinny glass for 30 to 40 seconds, or throw it all in a jar with a tight lid and shake hard for 30 to 45 seconds. The jar method works, it’s just an arm workout before coffee (which maybe cancels out the cream, who’s to say).

Expert tips

Chill your glass first. A cold glass holds the foam together noticeably longer and it costs you zero extra effort.
Go easier on the ice than you think. Too much ice and there’s no room left for the foam, which is the entire point of the drink!
If your foam sinks, it’s one of two things. Your cream wasn’t cold enough, or you got heavy handed with the pumpkin. Those are the only two culprits I’ve ever found.
If you’re going to drink this all season (you will), make your own sweetener. My pumpkin spice latte syrup keeps two weeks and it’s good in this, in lattes, and stirred into oatmeal. Now this is the drink half of the fall Starbucks order. For the pastry half, these pumpkin muffins with a cream cheese filling come together in 35 minutes.

Close up shot of the pumpkin cream cold brew showing the two distinct layer with a little cold foam dripping down the sides.

Glass of finished pumpkin cream cold brew dusted with pumpkin pie spice on a gray surface.

Starbucks Pumpkin Cream Cold Brew FAQd

What is in a Starbucks pumpkin cream cold brew?

Four things! Their cold brew, vanilla syrup stirred right into the coffee, a pumpkin cream cold foam made with pumpkin spice sauce, milk, and cream, and a pumpkin spice dusting on top. Here’s the part that matters though: the pumpkin only lives in the foam and the topping. Never in the coffee itself. That’s what most copycat recipes get wrong and it’s why so many of them taste muddy.

How much caffeine is in a pumpkin cream cold brew?

A grande has 185 mg, and it runs from around 145 mg in a tall up to 315 mg in a trenta. Cold brew steeps for something like 20 hours so it pulls way more caffeine than espresso drinks do. At home you’re just going off whatever your bottle says, and decaf drops it to basically nothing.

Can I make pumpkin cold foam without a blender or frother?

You sure can! Everything goes in a jar with a lid that actually seals, then shake it hard for 30 to 45 seconds. It comes out a little looser than the blender version but it still floats. A whisk and a narrow bowl works too, it just takes longer.

Can I use pumpkin pie filling instead of pumpkin puree in pumpkin cream cold brew?

Nope, and this one really matters. Pie filling already has sugar, thickeners, and spices in it, so your foam ends up too sweet and too heavy to float. You want the can where pumpkin is the only thing on the ingredient list.

How long does the pumpkin cold foam keep in the fridge?

Two days in a sealed jar. It separates a little as it sits so just shake it or give it five seconds in the blender before you pour. I make a double batch on Sundays so my mornings are literally pour and go. It’s the same foam I put over my iced pumpkin cream chai tea latte when I want a break from coffee.

More Starbucks Fall Recipe Favorites

Iced Drinks

Starbucks Apple Crisp Macchiato (iced and hot)

breakfast

Starbucks pumpkin scones copycat recipe

Desserts

The Best Starbucks Pumpkin Bread Recipe

Simple Syrups

Pumpkin spice latte syrup – Starbucks inspired

If you make these Pumpkin Cream Cold Brew (Starbucks Copycat), come back and leave a 🌟 star rating 🌟 and tell me how they went. I read every single comment and half the tips in this post came from things you all figured out first. You can also tag me on Instagram or join my free newsletter so you get new recipes the day they go up. And if you want the rest of my fall drink lineup, it all lives in my full collection of Starbucks copycat recipes.

5 from 10 votes