Starbucks Irish Cream Cold Brew: Drink Overview

Starbucks Irish Cream Cold Brew is on the 2021 holiday drink menu. Here's a complete overview of this seasonal handcrafted beverage, including calories, caffeine and more.

Starbucks Irish Cream Cold Brew

Starbucks Irish Cream Cold Brew is a cold coffee beverage that combines Irish Cream syrup and cold brew coffee. It’s topped with Irish Cream cold foam and a dusting of sweet cocoa powder.

You can get this drink as a regular cold brew served with ice or as a nitro cold brew. The nitro cold brew Irish Cream is served cold from a tap and gets no ice.

Here’s how Starbucks describes this beverage:

Everything and more that you ever wanted in a sippable, dreamy holiday drink: Starbucks® Cold Brew swirled with Irish cream syrup, and topped with a cloud of vanilla sweet cream cold foam and a hint of cocoa.
starbucks.com

As you may have noticed, Irish Cream Cold Brew is part of the 2021 Starbucks holiday menu. This means it’s only available for a limited time beginning in November and lasting through the winter.

In fact, it first appeared on the 2019 winter menu and because of its popularity, has returned each year since.

According to Starbucks, this beverage was inspired by a product developer’s family tradition of blending batches of Irish Cream to add to coffee and give as gifts.

What I love about this drink is how the chocolate pairs well with the cocoa notes in the coffee—a match made in heaven.

What’s in an Irish Cream Cold Brew from Starbucks

Irish Cream Syrup + Cold Brew Coffee + Ice + Irish Cream Cold Foam + Barista Cocoa Powder Topping

Starbucks Irish Cream Cold Brew with vanilla cream cold foam topping with cocoa powder. — Starbucks Irish Cream Cold Brew is topped with cocoa powder.

An Irish Cream Cold Brew from Starbucks is flavored with Irish Cream syrup two ways. First, the cold brew coffee is flavored with the syrup. Second, Irish Cream syrup is blended into the vanilla sweet cream cold foam topping.

Sometimes it’s confusing to customers (and baristas) which drink gets exactly what ingredients. For this limited-time holiday beverage, my barista daughter tells me they remember it by, “Irish and Irish.”

What’s in an Irish Cream Cold Brew: The drink portion contains Irish Cream syrup, cold brew coffee and ice (no ice for nitro version).

Irish Cream Cold Brew Toppings: The topping is Irish Cream syrup blended into vanilla sweet cream cold foam with sweetened cocoa powder on top.

Bottle of Starbucks Irish Cream syrup. — Starbucks Irish Cream syrup is swirled in the cold brew and blended in the sweet cream cold foam.

Starbucks Irish Cream Cold Brew: Sizes, Calories & Caffeine

Starbucks Irish Cream Cold Brew has fewer calories than all the other Starbucks holiday drinks. For instance, a grande Irish Cream only has 200 calories.

Irish Cream Cold Brew Sizes	Calories	Caffeine
Tall	150	145 mg
Tall (Nitro Cold Brew)	150	185 mg
Grande	200	185 mg
Grande (Nitro Cold Brew)	200	265 mg
Venti	240	275 mg
Trenta	300	320 mg

Starbucks Irish Cream Cold Brew Sizes, Caffeine and Calories

Ways to Customize an Irish Cream Cold Brew at Starbucks

Irish Cream Cold from Starbucks is a seasonal drink on the holiday and winter menus.

Reduce the Calories: A Starbucks Irish Cream Cold Brew already is the lowest calorie holiday drink, but there are two ways to cut the calories even more. Just keep in mind, both options will change the drink’s flavor.

First, you can substitute the syrup in the drink with Starbucks sugar-free vanilla syrup. It has zero calories. Each pump of Irish Cream syrup is approximately 40 calories, so for a grande drink with 2 pumps, that saves you about 80 calories.

Another option is to keep the Irish Cream syrup in the drink, but order it with regular vanilla sweet cream cold foam. This also cuts about 80 calories.

Customize the Toppings: Want a little less Irish Cream and more vanilla? Substitute the Irish Cream cold foam topping for vanilla sweet cream cold foam.

For the cocoa powder you can order it with extra, light or none. Additionally, you can substitute it for another topping option.

Add Espresso: Did you know you can add an espresso shot to most Starbucks drinks, even cold brew?

Obviously, the espresso will boost the amount of caffeine in the overall beverage.

For instance, each shot of Starbucks signature espresso contains approximately 75 mg of caffeine and each shot of blonde espresso has about 85 mg. A shot of Starbucks decaf espresso is around 25 mg.

Questions You May Have

Does Starbucks have Irish Cream Cold Brew?

Starbucks Irish Cream Cold Brew is a limited-time beverage. This seasonal drink is available during the winter and appears on the holiday menu beginning every November. Once the drink is no longer listed on the menu, you can still order it until your Starbucks location runs out of the syrup.

What’s in an Irish Cream Cold Brew from Starbucks?

A Starbucks Irish Cream Cold Brew combines Irish Cream syrup, cold brew coffee and ice in the drink portion. The topping consists of vanilla sweet cream cold foam blended with Irish Cream syrup with a dusting of sweet cocoa powder on top.

Does Starbucks have an Irish Cream Frappuccino?

Starbucks does not have an Irish Cream Frappuccino on the menu, but you can custom order a frappuccino with Irish Cream syrup in it and cocoa powder on top.

Does Starbucks Irish Cream have alcohol?

Typically, Irish Cream syrup contains whiskey and cocoa. However, Starbucks Irish Cream coffee syrup does not contain any alcohol.