How to Make a Healthier Version of Starbucks' Pumpkin Cream Cold Brew at Home

Michael Y. Park
·2 min read
Iced coffee with cold foam onn top
Iced coffee with cold foam onn top

Getty Images / ASIFE

No need to head to Starbucks for your next coffee run—one TikTok user has recreated the company's scrumptious pumpkin cold foam coffee so that you can enjoy one of America's most popular fall flavors right at home.

The pumpkin cold foam—officially named the Starbucks Pumpkin Cream Cold Brew—was unveiled in 2020 as a kind of cooler little brother to the perennial star PSL (aka the Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Latte) but quickly stole the limelight. Even though it's a little less expensive than the PSL ($4.45 for a 16-ounce grande, as opposed to $4.95 for a grande PSL), the pumpkin cold foam can quickly add up if you make it part of your daily routine.

Enter TikTok's coffeebae97, who made a healthier and less expensive version of Starbucks' pumpkin cold foam just in time for pumpkin season 2021.

Though Starbucks itself describes the drink as "cold brew coffee mixed with a few pumps of vanilla, then topped with a pumpkin cream cold foam and a few shakes of Starbucks' signature pumpkin spice topping," coffeebae97 adds a surprise ingredient to her DIY version that Starbucks doesn't mention: maple syrup.

She starts, however, by making the pumpkin cold foam, which includes:

  • 2 Tbsp. whipping cream

  • 2 Tbsp. half and half

  • 2 Tbsp. pumpkin sauce (recipe below)

She adds all those ingredients together in a glass and turns it into thick foam with a milk frother (like this handheld one from Target, $8.99).

As coffeebae97 demonstrates in an earlier video, you can make the pumpkin sauce with 2 ounces of condensed milk, 2 ounces of pumpkin puree, 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract, 2 tablespoons of milk and 2 tablespoons of pumpkin spice.

Next, she adds an unspecified amount of the maple syrup—it looks between a splash and a teaspoon in the video—to a glass, fills with ice, pours in cold brew, adds the cold foam on top and finishes off with what appears to be pumpkin spice. Once the bottom of the foam layer starts to undulate through the ice like little clouds in pumpkin heaven, it's ready to drink.

Without the addition of maple syrup, this homemade version has around 191 calories and only 9 grams of sugar (6 of which are added), compared to Starbucks' grande version which has 250 calories 31 grams of sugar. So, not only can you make a healthier version at home—you'll also save some money, too!