The Starbucks Cold Brew Hack For Enjoying Hot Cocoa On A Summer Day

If you think that hot chocolate is only a cozy winter drink, take a trip to Starbucks this summer. The chain's fans are highly skilled at making fun summer secret menu drinks like the Strawberry Cobbler Refresher and Blackberry Cobbler Frappuccino, but as it turns out, they can also whip up richer chilled concoctions. To get the TikTok-famous hot cocoa cold brew, first start off with — you guessed it — a Starbucks cold brew coffee. To give it the hot chocolate upgrade, add two pumps of vanilla syrup, four pumps of mocha syrup, and one pump of toasted white mocha syrup. You may have to order this in person since the app and website don't let you add the latter to this drink. Then, to get the full chocolatey effect, top your masterpiece off with chocolate malt powder.

Your drink will turn out rich, chocolatey, sweet, and ice-cold. Plus, you'll get a boost of caffeine to carry you through the pool and beach days of summer. While this secret menu iced version has much more caffeine than you'll get in a typical hot chocolate, it isn't so far off from the Starbucks hot drink, which does have a little kick of caffeine.

Since everyone takes their hot chocolate a little differently, there are plenty of ways you can customize the hot cocoa cold brew to make it your own. For starters, ask for a big dollop of whipped cream, followed by a mocha drizzle and a topping like chocolate mint cookie, toasted cookie crumble, or cinnamon dolce sprinkles. To turn your cold brew into a creamier drink, add a cold foam like chocolate cream, white chocolate macadamia, vanilla, or salted caramel. Or, simply request a milky option like oat milk or a splash of vanilla sweet cream. And for an extra chocolatey touch, get your cup lined with mocha sauce.

You can even play around with the original formula to get an upgraded hot cocoa cold brew. Try swapping out the mocha syrup for more toasted white mocha syrup to get a white hot chocolate drink, or add some white chocolate mocha sauce. For a minty version, use the white chocolate mint sauce — or for a regular peppermint chilled hot cocoa, add peppermint syrup instead of the toasted white mocha. And if you want to scale back on the sugar, ask for fewer pumps of the mocha and toasted white mocha syrups and swap the select the sugar-free version of vanilla.