Smooth and perfectly sweet, make this Starbucks iced latte with just 4 ingredients. It’s so quick and easy to make at home using an espresso machine or a Nespresso!
Recipe Highlights
- Starbucks Iced Blonde Vanilla Latte is an Iced Vanilla Latte made with blonde espresso instead of regular espresso. This cold coffee drink is made with 4 ingredients: blonde espresso, ice, 2% milk, and vanilla syrup.
- This copycat drink recreates the Starbucks recipe using Starbucks blonde espresso roast and homemade vanilla syrup although you can use store-bought syrup. This recipe makes a grande (16 ounces) Iced Blonde Vanilla Latte.
- Blonde espresso is a lightly roasted coffee bean and it’s a smoother, mellower version of Starbucks signature espresso, which is a dark roast.
- To make blonde espresso, you just need to buy blonde espresso coffee and make it the same way you would make espresso in an espresso machine or a Nespresso.
RELATED: Starbucks Blonde Vanilla Latte Copycat
Ingredient Notes
- Blonde espresso
A lightly roasted coffee bean, Starbucks sells blonde espresso in both whole and ground coffee. You can also get Nespresso Starbucks branded capsules for the Nespresso Original Line: Starbucks Blonde Espresso and Nespresso Vertuo Line: Starbucks Blonde Espresso - Vanilla Syrup
Store-bought or homemade vanilla syrup can be used but I recommend the homemade version since it’s so easy to make. Starbucks vanilla syrup can also be purchased at Starbucks locations if they have extra in stock. - Milk
This drink is made with 2% milk at Starbucks but you can use any kind of milk you like. - Ice
Use filtered water to make ice if possible for a better tasting drink.
Step-by-Step Instructions
For full ingredients and instructions, scroll down to the recipe.
- Pour blonde espresso into a cup.
Use 2 Nespresso blonde espresso pods or pull 2 shots from an espresso machine. - Add vanilla syrup.
- Add milk.
- Top drink with ice.
Using a Nespresso
The easiest way to make espresso at home is with a Nespresso machine.
Photo Credit: amazon.com
1 shot of espresso = 1 Nespresso espresso capsule
For a grande size drink (16 ounces), you’ll need 2 espresso capsules or 1 double espresso capsule to recreate this Starbucks drink at home.
Don’t use the coffee (7.77 ounces) capsules which makes brewed coffee instead of espresso.
You can use your favorite espresso Nespresso capsules or use the Starbucks Nespresso capsules.
Photo Credit: amazon.com
Expert Tips
- If you don’t have a way to make espresso at home, use instant coffee. Combine 1 tablespoon of instant coffee and ¼ cup hot water to replace the 2 shots of espresso in the recipe.
- To make this drink decadent, add Vanilla Sweet Cream Cold Foam on top.
- I prefer making homemade vanilla syrup but you can buy Starbucks vanilla syrup directly from any of their store locations. The only catch is that it’s not always available for purchase since they’ll only sell it to you if they have extras in stock. At the store, it’s about $14 for the bottle.
- If you do use Starbucks vanilla syrup, use 2 tablespoons per drink since their syrups have a lot more sugar than my homemade version.
Questions You May Have
In a grande sized drink, there’s ice, 2% milk, 4 pumps of Vanilla Syrup, and 2 shots of blonde espresso.
The less impurities there are in water, the cleaner and tastier it’ll be. Starbucks uses triple filtered water to make all their drinks and they use the same water to make ice.
The drinks are exactly the same but the Iced Blonde Vanilla Latte is made with blonde espresso (light roast) and Iced Vanilla latte is made with Starbucks signature espresso, which is a dark roast.
Related
- Best Starbucks Syrups
- Starbucks Vanilla Sweet Cream Cold Foam Copycat
- French Vanilla Creamer
- Best Starbucks Iced Coffees
- Starbucks Iced Mocha Copycat
Did you make this and love it? Please leave a 5-star rating below or a review in the comments section.
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Starbucks Iced Blonde Vanilla Latte Copycat Recipe
INGREDIENTS
- ¼ cup vanilla syrup
- 2 shots of blonde espresso (2 Nespresso blonde espresso capsules)
- ⅔ cup 2% milk
- 1 cup ice
INSTRUCTIONS
- Pour blonde espresso, vanilla syrup, milk into a cup. Use 2 Nespresso blonde espresso pods or pull 2 shots from an espresso machine.
- Add ice.
EQUIPMENT
NOTES
- Starbucks makes all their lattes with 2% milk but you can use any kind of milk you like.
- If you don’t have a way to make espresso at home, use instant coffee. Combine 1 tablespoon of instant coffee and ¼ cup hot water to replace the 2 shots of espresso in the recipe.
- To make this drink decadent, add Vanilla Sweet Cream Cold Foam on top.
- I prefer making homemade vanilla syrup but you can buy Starbucks vanilla syrup directly from any of their store locations. The only catch is that it’s not always available for purchase since they’ll only sell it to you if they have extras in stock. At the store, it’s about $14 for the bottle.
- If you do use Starbucks vanilla syrup, use 2 tablespoons per drink since their syrups have a lot more sugar than my homemade version.
Using A Nespresso Machine
- 2 shots of espresso = 2 Nespresso espresso capsules
- To make a 16 ounce (grande) Starbucks drink, you’ll need 2 Nespresso espresso or ristretto capsules. You can also use 1 Vertuo double espresso.
- With the Vertuo machine capsules, only use espresso capsules and not the coffee capsules that make 7.77 ounces.
- Recommended Nespresso capsules to make Starbucks drinks at home:
Nespresso Original: Starbucks Blonde Espresso capsules
Nespresso Vertuo: Starbucks Blonde Espresso capsules
This tasted as good or better than the coffee shops. I used unsweetened vanilla almond milk. Absolutely love your homemade vanilla syrup! Way better than the premade syrups. Added vanilla cold cream using half and half. Sooo good! Thank you for all the tips and ideas you’ve shared.
Tasted just like Starbucks! Best recipe by far.