It's So Easy To Make Starbucks' Pumpkin Cold Foam At Home

When pumpkin season arrives, Starbucks brings a bevy of pleasures to the pumpkin party. It's all about big-orange madness, from pumpkin spice lattes and affogatos to pumpkin baked goods, and even a Reserve-level pumpkin spice whiskey barrel-aged cold brew. To enjoy the essence of all this autumn goodness, including the luscious pumpkin cold foam, you don't actually need to enter a Starbucks store or roastery.

Starbucks shares a simple recipe for making pumpkin cold foam at home, which is one of the easiest ways to get your autumn mojo. Top any iced coffee drink with this foam, instantly transforming it to fit the season. The first step in making pumpkin cold foam is to create the required sweet pumpkin spice syrup. This requires simmering the following ingredients in a saucepan for about four minutes: a cup of water, 1/2 cups each of granulated and brown sugars, six tablespoons pumpkin purée, and one teaspoon each of vanilla extract and pumpkin pie spice. Once the sugars properly dissolve, use a fine mesh strainer to strain the syrup into a container. 

After the syrup cools, you'll be combining it with some Starbucks cold brew pumpkin spice flavored concentrate, available from major retailers. This is a coffee concentrate flavored by spicy notes of pumpkin, cinnamon and nutmeg. Pour four ounces each of concentrate and water into a glass with ice. Then just froth four ounces of 2% milk and two tablespoons of sweet pumpkin spice syrup, and pour it over the iced coffee.

You'll have to move quickly in making the Starbucks cold pumpkin foam, since the pumpkin spice cold brew concentrate is only available from August through October. However, the product is considered shelf stable and comes in a 32-ounce bottle, so you'll be able to whip up some pumpkin cold foam at home throughout the holidays with proper planning. The separate sweet pumpkin spice syrup for the cold foam lasts up to two weeks when refrigerated, so you may need to create fresh batches as needed. You could also bypass the Starbucks recipes altogether and incorporate pumpkin into your cold foam using pumpkin puree and your personal pumpkin spice mixture.

Pumpkin spice is certainly not the only cold brew coffee concentrate offered by Starbucks. Most flavors are available year round, leaving plenty of options for making cold foam concoctions. Choose from the likes of dark chocolate hazelnut, caramel dolce, Madagascar vanilla, and brown sugar cinnamon. There's also an unflavored signature cold foam black coffee concentrate. Several concentrate flavors comes in single-serve pods for convenience. 

When visiting a Starbucks store or roastery during the autumn season, feel free to request a scoop of pumpkin cold foam on any of your favorite drinks. As the air turns chillier and winter coats emerge from hibernation, there's still plenty of cold foam love lingering at Starbucks. Winter holidays bring a parade of cold foams with peppermint chocolate cream, sugar cookie, chestnut praline, caramel brulée, and more.