The 12 Best Add-Ins For Starbucks Cold Brew

In July 2015, Starbucks introduced cold brew coffee to its menu. At the time, baristas brewed the coffee in large batches, allowing the grounds to steep over the course of 20 hours. While Starbucks previously used a Toddy cold brew coffee maker to achieve the task, Toddy is no longer the go-to brewer. However, the 20-hour brewing process remains the same, and the cold brew that you get at the end of the counter is actually made fresh in store. This cold brew isn't from a jug like the kind you find in a grocery refrigerator case. No pre-packaged jug coffees here. 

As a former barista, I can say that cold brew tastes and feels very similar to regular iced coffee, but it does have a smoother taste. Starbucks cold brew, in particular, contains some citrus notes, and there's a whole lot of sweetness to the coffee. One thing is for sure, though: Cold brew concoctions are absolutely rife with opportunity, as there are a number of fabulous add-ons to choose from. While the basic cold brew at Starbucks is enjoyable, the chain frequently comes out with updated and seasonal variations on the drink. Even still, there's no stopping your creativity from developing the best cold brew of your dreams with some simple add-ons that you can request from the app or in person.

Perhaps the most basic of all cold brew additions is cold foam. This delectable topper came on the scene in April 2018 and forever changed the world of Starbucks cold brews. Now, whenever a new cold brew option hits the menu, cold foam has a starring role in flavoring that drink. For some time, only basic cold foam options were available, like vanilla sweet cream cold foam.

It wasn't long before Starbucks customers began creating their own foam customizations. These secret menu options eventually led to Starbucks adding various cold foam flavors to the customization section in the app. This way, ordering a unique flavor of cold foam for your cold brew became easier than ever. Unfortunately, cold foam is a pretty pricey upgrade. At my closest locations, this addition can run from $1.25 to $1.55. There is one thing you can count on about cold foam customization: It's going to be above a dollar. Compared to other add-ins you can make to your cold brew, it's one of the more luxurrious options. More recently, in June 2024, Starbucks introduced dairy-free cold foam. With these additions, customers who avoid dairy milk can also enjoy delicious cold foam topper, even if not all cold foam flavors are available dairy free. These non-dairy cold foam flavors don't quite have the same consistency or melt into the drinks the same way dairy cold foams do, but I'm pretty impressed with how well they are flavored.

With each new season comes Starbuck's beloved seasonal menus. With these rotational drinkl options, we often meet a variety of both new and familiar toppings. Many of these may be nothing more than pretty accents, such as the sprinkles around the winter holiday menu. (Granted, it's a miracle what a few colorful sprinkles can do for the winter blues.) However, some of the toppings provide more than just a fun change in appearance to your drink — they add texture, too.

Most of the time, these crunchy toppings will appear on the Frappuccino drinks. The whipped cream on top of many Frappuccinos is the perfect place to add a bit of crunch. And if you are already getting cold foam with your drink, a crunchy topping works well here too. Just as whipped cream adds a little buffer between the liquid of the drink and the sweetness of the topping, the cold foam creates a barrier between the creamy top and coffee. The crunchy bits that sit atop the cold foam absorb all of its creamy goodness, and the best part is savoring those first few sips before the toppings and whip cream dissolve into your drink. 

If you're looking for an addition to your drink that gives it that iconic Starbucks feel, ask to have your cup lined with caramel. The barista will take the caramel drizzle bottle and make a whole bunch of squiggles on the inside of your cup before pouring in the espresso. It may melt slightly into your cold brew, or it might cling to the side of your cup, but whatever the case may be, for at least some time, you'll have those delicious caramel ribbons flowing throughout. They'll imbue a little sweetness into your coffee, but it won't be overwhelming.

Those who know their way around a caramel macchiato already know the glory of caramel drizzle. However, if you're a little less familiar with the extravagant caramel ribbons that baristas add to beverages such as caramel macchiatos and Frappuccinos, this drizzle may very well be a whole new world to your coffee enjoyment. Like the sprinkle toppings, the caramel drizzle adds only a small amount of sweetness to your drink, as it really is more for aesthetic purposes than flavor. 

While caramel drizzle is more of an aesthetic choice, given its subtle flavor, mocha drizzle has much more flavoring power. Similar to the caramel drizzle added to Frappuccinos and caramel macchiatos, mocha drizzle also adds a lovely aesthetic boost to your beverage. However, mocha will dissolve more readily into your drink. While you might find that it offers a thick and syrupy texture throughout, in my experience, it does tend to melt more quickly into the drink than caramel drizzle, so the syrupy texture doesn't remain for long.

If you really want to take the drizzle route and go full out, I recommend combining drizzle options by ordering a caramel drizzle around the cup to achieve that classic Starbucks look and then asking for mocha drizzle on top of your cold foam. The mocha will make your cold foam rich and slightly chocolatey, while the caramel will enhance the sweetness and provide more syrupy goodness. In this regard, mocha drizzle is great for those who want that small hint of chocolate flavor but not to a degree where it overwhelms the cold brew's natural flavor.

You may have heard of a red eye or black eye in the coffee world. A red eye is a cup of coffee with a single shot of espresso added to it, and a black eye is a cup of coffee with two shots. Typically, these drinks are served hot, but you could always opt for an iced version — that is, an iced red eye or iced black eye. At Starbucks, neither beverage order is a guarantee that the barista behind the counter will know what you're referring to, so you'll probably want to order it simply as a cold brew with one or two shots of espresso.

Choosing the right espresso for your drink will be essential here. Cold brew has a very smooth flavor and texture, and espresso will most certainly interrupt that. Regardless of whether you choose a blonde or signature roast, neither option is going to add more smoothness to your drink. Instead, you want to choose something that will be less disruptive than the other. In this case, I recommend a blonde roast espresso. The addition of blonde roast will add some brightness to your cold brew, but it won't be an overwhelming addition. The regular signature espresso roast might add a sort of burnt taste that I can't imagine many people would be too excited about.

Even though cold foam has the high ground as the ultimate Starbucks topper, whipped cream also makes for a delicious addition. Starbucks whipped cream is flavored with vanilla syrup, so in a way, this is the cold foam that existed before cold foam hit the stage. You might find that it doesn't quite melt into your cold coffee the same way that the cold foam does, but it is just as tasty.

Plus, whipped cream is a whole lot less expensive than the cold foam. While cold foam will run you somewhere around $1.25 for the added customization, whipped cream is much more reasonable. In fact, it's free. The only disappointing part about adding whipped cream is that you can't choose a unique flavor. That's where the extra drizzle flavors on top will be your biggest aids. In terms of budget, you really can't do any better than whipped cream for a creamy topper. With whipped cream, you might have yourself swirling your drink quite frequently to ensure that everything is mixed together as you sip, but many iced coffee drinkers already do this, so it won't feel too out of the ordinary.

For nearly any drink in the Starbucks beverage repertoire, adding syrup or swapping out one syrup for another is a simple and easy to request way to change out a drink. Cold brew, on its own, does not come with any syrup, so any flavoring that you choose to add in this way is extra. Of the many syrups that Starbucks keeps in stock, most of them go well in cold brew. Since the majority of Starbucks syrup flavors focus on a sweet addition, rather than a fruity one, for example, you really can't go wrong.

To keep your drink well flavored without going over the top, use one pump of a particular syrup for a tall, two for a grande, and three for a venti. Regardless of the number of syrup pumps you add, the cost will still be exactly the same: free. When you plug in your specific syrup request in the app, it will automatically default to the recommended proportions, so there's no need to remember specifically how much syrup you would want unless you plan on ordering in person or wish to adjust the number of pumps. At the counter, though, there's a good chance your barista will ask how much you want, so it's helpful to know. You can always ask for the recommendation, but it takes away one step if you already know the answer.

In addition to syrups, Starbucks also regularly uses different kinds of sauces in its drinks. The difference between a syrup and a sauce mostly lies in the thickness and viscosity. For instance, the go-to flavoring agents like mocha, white chocolate mocha, pumpkin spice, and pistachio are all extra thick sauces. While syrups mix easily into your cold brew because they are thin, sauces take a little more convincing. Typically, I recommend pairing sauces with a drink that has a warm element in it, like espresso, but sauces can work well with a cold brew too. In fact, I've ordered a cold brew with sauce myself, just to experiment, and with some swirling, it's easy enough to coax the sauce into mixing relatively seamlessly into the drink. The key is moderation. You definitely don't want to go overboard in your pump number. 

The only drawback is that sauce, unlike syrup, will cost you more. At my local Starbucks, the swap added $0.80 to my drink, regardless of how much I ordered. The added fee is unfortunate enough that you don't really want to request extra sauces. Even though you're paying for a premium up-charge, for the sake of texture, I wouldn't go for more than one or two pumps. It might not feel like you're getting your money's worth, but it is a delicious add.

I learned a lot when I worked at Starbucks, and one of the main takeaways from my time there was that the default milk that we used in all drinks, unless otherwise specified, was whole milk. I was also a barista when whole milk was switched to 2% in espresso drinks and a whole lot of milk alternatives began showing up in our coolers. If customers were swapping out milk, they would change the milk to soy, but there were no menu items developed with the intention of mixing them with plant-based milk. Of course, now, there are several options on the menu that you can order that come, as a default, with non-dairy milk.

When you customize your drink with a milk add-on in the app and go down to the creamer section, you can select the milk you would like to add a splash of. You'll notice that the options are quite extensive and include every dairy based variant you could want, as well as non-dairy options like almond, coconut, oat, and soy milk. My favorite milk to order with drinks is the vanilla sweet cream. It adds an absolutely luscious texture to any beverage, hot or cold. For the cold brew in particular, the cream mixes in so well, and with the vanilla flavoring, I don't even feel the need to add syrup.

If you walk into a Starbucks longing for chai, you have a couple of different options. But any of the options you choose from will use one of two varieties of chai: Either it will be a hot tea bag or a chai concentrate. This concentrate is pumped into your drink similar to the way sauce is, so the amount that you choose to add is measured the same way.

Chai concentrate adds warmth and spice, and it while it might not be everyone's favorite way to enjoy coffee, the mixture is definitely worth a try. The spiciness it brings, paired with those warm notes bring a unique feel to any drink, let alone a cold brew. The first time you order your chai concentrate, I recommend going slow, with one pump. If that was enjoyable and you want more, the next time you order, go up from there. Some people find the chai concentrate a tad overwhelming in flavor, so it's going to depend entirely on your taste preferences. Like sauces, this is an up-charge and costs $0.80 at my closest Starbucks. However, I feel that chai gives you a greater punch of flavor than a typical sauce would, so I think it's a better investment of your coin. In addition to chai, I recommend pairing this add-in with some creamer, such as vanilla sweet cream. It might be a little unique, but Starbucks' sweet cream goes really nicely with chai concentrate. It'll make you feel like you're sipping fall all year round.

It might sound strange, but a little shake of cinnamon powder on the top of your cold brew might be the very thing you need to liven up your drink. As you continue to swirl and sip your cold brew, that cinnamon mingles with the coffee, warms it up, and adds some homey, spicy notes to your beverage.

Since the cinnamon will be sprinkled on top of your cold brew, I like pairing this with vanilla sweet cream that's mixed in with the drink rather than opting for a cold foam topper. If you add cinnamon to the top of the cold foam, it'll just mix with your topper and in no time, that flavor will simply be enjoyed alongside your creamy cold foam. If you choose to have it sprinkled directly on your coffee, however, and have the cream integrated into your drink, the cinnamon has more of an opportunity to coalesce and create a slightly cinnamon-flavored sip. As with whipped cream, cinnamon powder is a zero-cost addition, but in the app, there is no way to specify just how much cinnamon you would like. If you want to go way over the top in your cinnamon dusting, you'll probably have to order in person and make that request.

One of the more underrated drinks at Starbucks is a vanilla bean Frappuccino. It's like a milkshake in a glass, and it's a Starbucks drink that is super kid-friendly since it's caffeine-free. I love recommending it to families that are looking for a treat for their little ones. But that's not the only place that this powder can shine. In addition to the café vanilla Frappuccino, which is the coffee version of the vanilla bean Frappuccino, you can actually request vanilla bean powder in your cold brew.

At only $0.50 cents for the addition, this powder is a pretty inexpensive flavor change agent for your cold brew. However, you definitely need to approach your vanilla bean powder with a little care. If you are highly sensitive to textures and really don't like floating things in your drink, this might be something you want to stay away from. Although the flavor is enjoyable, the vanilla bean powder also has a way of settling to the bottom of your cup and floating throughout. It sometimes mixes in really well, but other times, you might end up with a little powder left over. I love this addition for people who enjoy something a little different every once in a while, but others might find it off-putting.