Make your own iced vanilla lattes for around $2 and stop overpaying for your favorite pricey coffee shop drinks! They’re an easy espresso drink to make at home with just 3 ingredients.
By now you should know that coffee in all forms in an integral part of my day. It’s not that my body needs coffee, but that I love the taste of a really good, full-bodied coffee.
And especially in the winter months, I love to wrap my hands around a hot latte mug on a cold morning.
But in the summer months, when the humidity is so high, when the air is so thick it feels like it’s going to burst open with rain, all I crave is iced coffee, cold brew, and iced lattes.
My dad on the other hand, could never get enough hot coffee on these types of days. He never, ever turned down a cup of hot coffee even when the thermometer was reading 95°.
Truthfully, I’ve never been able to wrap my head around the habit of drinking hot drinks on hot days. The thought of it makes me hot just thinking about it!
In any event, I’m back today to share my very favorite iced latte recipe with you: the iced vanilla latte. And I’m so stinking excited about this!!
Since a Starbucks iced vanilla latte has been my go-to summer coffee drink for YEARS, I decided this year that I needed to start making it at home.
So, back in 2019, I first talked about how to make an iced latte at home. And man oh man! It’s been the #1 post on Smells Like Home ever since!
Why Make Your Own Iced Lattes?
Learning how to make your own iced lattes will save you beaucoup bucks for sure. A grande (medium) iced vanilla latte from Starbucks costs over $5.00 these days.
With my Nespresso machine, it costs me around $2.00 to make an iced latte at home. And using a stove top espresso maker with freshly ground espresso beans would decrease the cost even more!
Before I dive into my vanilla iced latte recipe, let’s go through some basics about iced lattes in general.
RELATED: 19 Different Espresso Drinks to Make at Home
What Is an Iced Latte?
An iced latte is simply milk mixed into espresso with ice in the glass. Yes! It’s that simple!
You can use any kind of dairy or non-dairy milk you want. Cow’s milk, almond milk, soy milk, pea milk, oat milk, and coconut milk are all great options!
How do You Flavor an Ice Latte?
Flavored iced lattes are where its at these days! I’ve been making my iced vanilla lattes and hot vanilla lattes with my homemade vanilla syrup. It’s a delicious syrup to have on hand in the fridge for all kinds of cold coffee drinks and even for co*cktails.
If you’re not into making your own syrup, you can buy vanilla syrup. Amazon stocks it and I know I’ve seen it sold in Target and grocery storestoo.
I’ve also made a slew of other syrups for cold drinks too. This brown sugar cinnamon syrup is a copycat recipe for the cinnamon dolce syrup from Starbucks. Do you like cinnamon dolce lattes? Then you need this syrup!
I’ve made 2 coconut syrups: toasted coconut and almond toasted coconut. Both are exceptionally good but the almond really ups the ante and that’s now my favorite of the two versions.
I’ve fallen for fruity lattes too! My vanilla raspberry syrup is perfect in raspberry iced lattes.
And my blackberry vanilla syrup is SO SO good in cold coffee drinks! It’s the perfect summer syrup to make use of local blackberries and I’ve been using it in co*cktails and other iced drinks this summer too.
Lastly to note, if you don’t like sweetener in your coffee, you can certainly make a latte without a flavored syrup. The drink will be strong but if that’s your thing, more power to you!
How do You Make an Iced Vanilla Latte?
First, gather up your ingredients for your iced vanilla latte: brewed espresso, milk, vanilla syrup, and ice.
Once you have everything ready, get going!
- Fill a glass with ice
- Add the syrup
- Pour the espresso over the ice or brew the espresso from your Nespresso or espresso machine directly over the ice
- Pour in the milk to fill the glass.
Like I said, it’s super easy to make this drink at home!
Pro Tip: Iced vanilla latte ingredient ratios (keeping in mind that the larger your glass is, the more ice you’ll need to fill it):
- 12 oz iced latte (tall or small size drink from a coffee shop): 1 shot espresso, 1 ounce vanilla syrup, 8 ounces milk
- 16 oz iced latte (grande or medium size drink from a coffee shop): 2 shots espresso, 2 ounces vanilla syrup, 8 ounces milk
- 20 oz iced latte (venti or large size drink from a coffee shop): 3 shots espresso, 4 ounces vanilla syrup, 8 ounces milk
Now that you’re armed with the best information about how to make an iced vanilla latte at home, I really hope you try to make your own!
My iced vanilla lattes are a big part of my morning routine as I settle down in front of my computer after daycare drop off and I’d love to hear how you make it part of yours this summer!
Iced Vanilla Latte
Yield: 1 16 oz drink
Prep Time: 1 minute
Cook Time: 5 minutes
Total Time: 6 minutes
Your favorite (and pricey) iced vanilla latte drink can easily be made at home for around $2! Forget about overpaying at the coffee shop and make your own iced vanilla latte using my very-well tested Starbucks copycat recipe.
Ingredients
- 2 oz vanilla syrup
- 2 shots of brewed hot or cold espresso (approximately 2 oz)
- 8 oz milk (any variety)
Instructions
- Add vanilla syrup to a 16 oz glass filled with ice.
- Pour the espresso over the ice (see note below).
- Pour milk into the glass and stir until the milk, syrup, and espresso are combined.
Notes
You can either brew the espresso directly over the ice if you have an espresso machine or make the espresso on the stove top and pour it over the ice. The espresso can be hot or cold when you pour it over the ice.
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