How to Make Vanilla Sweet Cream Cold Foam

Starbucks Vanilla Sweet Cream Cold Foam

Vanilla sweet cream cold foam is a blended, vanilla-flavored heavy cream topping that Starbucks serves on cold brew coffee beverages. The cold foam floats on top of the drink and slowly cascades into it.

If you love Starbucks cold brew coffee with vanilla sweet cream swirled in, then you’ll love this simple recipe.

What’s great is, once you see how to make copycat Starbucks vanilla sweet cream cold foam, you can take your at-home cold coffee drinks to a whole new level.

Trust me, it’s seriously easy to make a batch and you only need a few readily available ingredients.

And might I add, this vanilla sweet cream cold foam recipe is way better than store-bought vanilla coffee creamers. To me, those always seem to have an artificial flavor.

So if Starbucks Vanilla Sweet Cream Cold Brew is your drink of choice and you can’t quite figure out how to replicate the vanilla sweet cream part of the drink at home, then read on.

My copycat recipe uses the same ingredients and proportions as Starbucks (perks of having a barista daughter).

Vanilla Sweet Cream vs Cold Foam

But first, before we jump into the recipe, let me clear up a few things.

My daughter tells me that many of her Starbucks customers ask about the difference between sweet cream, cold foam, and sweet cream cold foam.

Throw whipped cream in there and you have a whole lot of yummy cream options and a whole lot of confusion.

So, let’s start with cold foam.

What is cold foam?

Starbucks cold foam is whipped non-fat milk that sits on top of cold brew coffee drinks. Each sip of a cold foam-topped drink from one of the new strawless cups, is a tasty mix of coffee and cream. I guess you can think of it as the perfect sip.

Now, to be clear, Starbucks cold foam is more than just aerated cold milk. Actually, the non-fat milk is whipped at a very high speed in a special, bladeless blender. The result is a “foam” akin to melted ice cream.

Of course, you can ask for cold foam on top of any Starbucks drink, but it’s intended to be served with cold brew or nitro cold brew.

Additionally, baristas can make cold-foam using any type of milk. However, it may not come out as foamy as the non-fat dairy milk variety.

What is vanilla sweet cream?

Now that you know what cold foam is, let me explain exactly what vanilla sweet cream is.

Starbucks vanilla sweet cream is a simple mixture of vanilla syrup, 2% milk and heavy cream. This vanilla-flavored cream is the perfect creamy touch in a cup of cold brew coffee. As a matter of fact, Vanilla Sweet Cream Cold Brew is a really popular summertime favorite.

But, if you order a drink with vanilla sweet cream, the cream is not blended into a foam.

I guess you can think of this cream like a thinner vanilla whipped cream that hasn’t been whipped.

As a matter of fact, if you take a look at the Starbucks menu picture, notice the sweet cream cascades through the cold brew. And there is no pillowy layer on top.

That brings us to vanilla sweet cream cold foam.

What is vanilla sweet cream cold foam?

At this point, I’m sure you can guess what vanilla sweet cream cold foam is.

Starbucks vanilla sweet cream cold foam is simply vanilla sweet cream that is blended into a creamy foam. The cream mixture is poured into the special cold-foam blender and transformed into vanilla sweet cream cold foam!

The result is, as Starbucks puts it, a cloud of vanilla sweet cream cold foam.

Comparison of Starbucks Cream Toppers

Starbucks Cold Coffee Creams	Ingredients	Blended?	Foamy Layer?
Cold Foam	Non-fat milk (or choice of milk)	Yes	Yes
Vanilla Sweet Cream	Vanilla Syrup, 2% Milk, Heavy Cream	No	No
Vanilla Sweet Cream Cold Foam	Vanilla Syrup 2% Milk, Heavy Cream	Yes	Yes
Whipped Cream	Vanilla Syrup, Heavy Cream	Yes	Absolutely

How to Make Starbucks Vanilla Sweet Cream Cold Foam at Home

Just like Starbucks, the ingredients you need to make vanilla sweet cream cold foam are vanilla syrup, 2% milk and heavy cream.

Vanilla Syrup: When it comes to vanilla syrup, you have a few options.

You can get a bottle of any brand of vanilla coffee syrup from your store, buy a bottle of Starbucks vanilla syrup online or from a barista (if they have one to spare). Or you can make homemade vanilla syrup.

Making homemade vanilla syrup is actually quite simple. All you need is sugar, water and vanilla extract. You can see my copycat Starbucks vanilla syrup recipe over on my tea blog.

To make vanilla sweet cream, simply combine the syrup, milk and heavy cream in a bottle. Now, you have a delicious vanilla creamer that you can use in all sorts of coffee drinks.

How to Turn the Sweet Cream into Cold Foam

To make vanilla sweet cream cold foam, simply blend a little bit of the vanilla cream. Only blend as much as you need for a cup of coffee.

The goal is to achieve a creamy texture about the consistency of melted ice cream. This way some of the cream mixes into the drink and a nice cloud of cream remains on top.

As far as blending goes, you can use a blender, immersion blender, mixer, whisk or even an electric milk frother.

However, I like to use a non-electric method. My favorite way to turn sweet cream into sweet cream cold foam is to shake it in a cold jar—vigorously.

All you have to do is put the jar with a lid in the freezer a few minutes before you need it. Keeping all the tools and ingredients cold seems to help it foam up better and faster.

But the reason this is my preferred method is because it’s less of a mess. I mean, who wants to clean up the kitchen when you have creamy coffee to enjoy?

Related Recipes

• Easy Starbucks Vanilla Sweet Cream Cold Brew Recipe
• Homemade Pumpkin Spice Coffee Creamer
• Homemade Italian Sweet Cream Creamer
• How to Make Starbucks Whipped Cream
• How to Make Pumpkin Cream Cold Foam