Starbucks Mocha Copycat

Author: Jee Choe

Make your own mocha with chocolate, espresso, milk, and whipped cream at home.

5 from 1 vote

Prep Time 5

Total Time 5

Course Drinks

Yield serving (16 ounces)

Whisk heavy cream and vanilla syrup to make whipped cream. Set aside.
Use a handheld milk frother to make whipped cream in seconds. Whip until soft peaks form.
Put espresso and chocolate syrup into a cup.
Use 2 Nespresso espresso pods or pull 2 shots from an espresso machine.
Add frothed milk.
Frothed milk can be made using an electric milk frother or with the steam wand from an espresso machine. Another method is to simmer milk on the stovetop, pour it into a French press, then pump the plunger a few times to create froth.
Top drink with whipped cream.

Milk will increase in volume when frothed, so to get 1 ⅓ cups of frothed milk for this recipe, use 1 cup of cold milk.
Use store-bought or homemade chocolate syrup.
All mochas and lattes at Starbucks are made with 2% milk, but you can use any milk you like.
Starbucks sweetens and flavors their whipped cream with vanilla syrup. Use store-bought or homemade.
Vanilla syrup can be purchased at Starbucks by asking the barista if they have any extra in stock. It should cost around $14. They'll only sell you the vanilla syrup if they have extras to sell.
Instead of chocolate syrup, you can make a mocha the way it's done at Dutch Bros by using chocolate milk. Steam chocolate milk and combine it with the espresso.
If you don't have a way to make espresso, use instant coffee. Combine 1 tablespoon of instant coffee and 1/4 cup hot water to replace the espresso in the recipe.

1 shot of espresso = 1 Nespresso espresso capsule
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: