The Only Vessel You Need To Make An Iced Shaken Espresso At Home

If you've been to Starbucks anytime since 2021, you've probably seen the Iced Brown Sugar Oatmilk Shaken Espresso on the menu. The fancy-sounding drink, which debuted in March of that year, is exactly what it sounds like — espresso, brown sugar, and cinnamon shaken together, then combined with oatmilk and ice. Not only was the drink a huge success, Starbucks CEO Kevin Johnson proclaimed it was "exceeding expectations to date," but it was part of the chain's movement toward sustainably-made beverages, per Eat This, Not That!.

The drink was still being served out of a plastic cup, so where did the sustainability come in? In a move toward more plant-based items, the iced shaken espresso was Starbucks' first-ever beverage made with oat milk — specifically, from the brand Oatly. The chain celebrated its partnership with Oatly by launching two additional non-dairy drinks at the same time — the Iced Chocolate Almondmilk Shaken Espresso and the Honey Oatmilk Latte. Food wasn't left out of the movement, as Starbucks debuted its Impossible Foods breakfast sandwich in 2020 and a plant-based protein box in 2021.

As Starbucks' iced shaken espresso rose to fame, food bloggers and coffee lovers alike figured out how to make the drink at home. While the beverage's name makes it sound like a complicated concoction, it's actually easier to whip up than you think and you just need one vessel to do it.

To make an iced shaken espresso at home, you need a few ingredients — brown sugar, espresso, ice, and cinnamon, according to TikTok user @coffeedbybella. To achieve the shaken effect, you don't need any complicated kitchen devices — a simple mason jar with a lid will do. In their video, which has over 410,000 likes, they simply add brown sugar to a mason jar followed by hot espresso, cinnamon, and ice. Then they shake it all up, add in some oat milk, and voila! 

There are other ways to create your own iced shaken espresso, although they are a little more complicated. Many at-home recipes use a cocktail shaker or another air-tight container that will hold the ingredients, which will accomplish the same thing as a mason jar. And if you want to get a little fancy, you can try adding in store-bought or homemade simple syrup to more closely mimic the Starbucks drink, which is made with four pumps of brown sugar syrup in a grande. However, Starbucks actually recommends making the drink at home using the same method as the aforementioned TikTok user, by dissolving brown sugar with hot espresso, then shaking it up with oat milk and ice. Although the chain adds the oat milk in before shaking.

So while you can use a cocktail shaker, all you really need is a mason jar, and you're one step closer to a homemade iced shaken espresso.