The Starbucks Drink Order That TikTok Swears Tastes Just Like Arroz Con Leche

The flexibility to customize coffees with extra shots of syrup, plant-based milks, foam, and fruity inclusions distinguishes Starbucks from other coffee houses. And it's this fun feature that's led to the rise of Starbucks secret menu drinks that customers have invented and personalized autonomously. One such drink is a coffee-based beverage that TikTok swears tastes like the creamy Mexican dessert arroz con leche. A slow-cooked mixture of rice, milk, and sugar, arroz con leche is similar to a baked rice pudding but is made on a stove top. Aromatic with cinnamon (instead of the vanilla that's typically used in American-style rice pudding), it's a warming dish that's cozy and comforting. However, it can also be served cold.

According to a TikTok from @ivannamunoz5, you can recreate the flavors of arroz con leche in a Starbucks drink by making slight adjustments to a venti Iced Brown Sugar Oatmilk Shaken Espresso. Simply ask for 3 pumps of white mocha and extra cinnamon to be added to your drink, along with a serving of cold foam. This combination works so well because the white chocolate mocha sauce, which is made with condensed milk, thickens the consistency of the coffee and sweetens it up, mimicking the flavor and texture of the milk and sugar used in a traditional arroz con leche recipe. Meanwhile, the brown sugar imbues the beverage with a slight caramelized note and the cinnamon suffuses it with a spicy, warming aroma.

An Iced Brown Sugar Shaken Espresso is normally made with oat milk, but you can switch the milk for heavy cream (or Starbucks' Vanilla Sweet Cream) to make it richer with extra body. However, if you go this route, you might want to reduce the pumps of white chocolate mocha sauce to prevent your drink from having a cloying character that overwhelms the palate. Alternatively, you can select almond, soy, or 2% milk for a lighter mouthfeel. Plus, you can switch the blonde espresso for Starbucks' signature espresso or decaf espresso roast. If you don't like the spicy, powdery nature of ground cinnamon, consider subbing one of the pumps of the brown sugar syrup (usually 3 in a venti) for a pump of cinnamon dolce syrup. 

This move will guarantee that the cinnamon flavor is mixed throughout your drink and shaken up with the espresso and ice, rather than just sprinkled over the layer of cold foam on top. You could use gingerbread syrup, too, as it contains cinnamon. However, bear in mind that it also has a dash of ginger in there, so it would alter the flavor of your drink slightly. There's an array of clever Starbucks hacks that you can employ, and several brands of coffee syrups (like this Torani cinnamon syrup on Amazon) that you can use to customize your arroz con leche-style beverage even further, so feel free to be creative. For example, adding a few pumps of mocha would turn it into the drink version of this Mexican hot chocolate arroz con leche.