Starbucks is a multinational coffee house having its headquarter in Settles, Washington. It has a name globally and is famous for its products like cold and hot coffee, instant coffee, espresso, Latte, fresh juices, beverages, and snacks like crackers and chips.
Are you craving vanilla-flavored sweet cream cold brew? And that too totally in a Starbucks style but f, find it challenging to get ready and go to a nearby Starbucks branch? This recipe can solve your problem by making it easy for you to make a cream-flavored cold brew at home.
Vanilla, sweet cream cold brew is a famous Starbucks drink and is widely used to fix your caffeine level. It is a cold brew coffee filled with vanilla flavor topped with sweet vanilla cream throughout the cup. It has an entirely mouth-watering and tempting look. It is refreshing, creamy, and easy to make.
Taste of vanilla sweet cream cold brew:
The sweet vanilla cream brought out the inherent sweetness of the coffee and gave a bit of richness (or more, if you don’t stir the drink much) without overwhelming the cup. The citrusy finish was also rounded out by the vanilla and cream mix. The vanilla cream brings out the flavors in sweet vanilla cream cold brew.
Overall, I was pleased with Starbucks Vanilla Sweet Cream Cold Brew Coffee. Unlike many of their syrup-flavored coffee bursts of drinks, it is the main attraction rather than a sidekick. Compared with Starbucks, Cold Brew gives a smooth coffee taste with a hint of acidity at the finish. You won’t receive any harsher, bitter, or burnt aromas that come with their brew.
Let’s take a look at the recipe:
For making the cold brew coffee, we use filtered water. It will enhance the flavor of the coffee. It is better to use filtered water than tap water because Starbucks is famous for its quality and purity; therefore, there will be contamination chances with tap water.
Next will be the use of ground coffee. To develop a taste that closely resembles Starbucks cold brew, uses dark roast and a medium blend of coffee.
To make vanilla syrup, we use water and sugar to give a sweetened taste and include a whole vanilla bean. These vanilla flavored beans can be found in the bakery section of the grocery store. If it is challenging to find vanilla beans, then simple vanilla extract can be used.
To make sweet cream: we use milk (it can be non-dairy or dairy according to the availability), properly whipped cream, and vanilla syrup (a separate coffee special vanilla syrup can be used, available at the nearest grocery store, or you make vanilla-flavored syrup).
Process:
The complete process of brewing coffee is straightforward, but it requires finesse correctly to get the perfect required taste. The whole process should be accurate. Otherwise, it will not give the real cold brew taste. It is required to refrigerate the coffee for nearly 12 hours.
- First of all, we mix the grounded coffee and filtered water in a large decanter. Then, refrigerate it overnight for nearly 48 hours.
- Into a fine mesh strainer, Then, refrigerate put a cheesecloth, then place it on a large jar. Pour the coffee through the cloth. Take sufficient time while pouring so that no coffee remains in the pitcher or jar.
- Make the vanilla-flavored syrup according to the recipe given above.
- Next, make the sweetened cream.
- Fill a large glass with ice and add two tablespoons of freshly made vanilla syrup all over the ice.
- Add two cups of fresh cold coffee and add one-fourth of rich sweet cream.
Making of vanilla syrup:
Place saucepan over high heat and then add water to it. When water starts to boil, immediately remove the saucepan from the stove, slowly add sugar, and continuously stir it until whole sugar dissolves. If you don’t want to use a saucepan, use a kettle to boil water, and later, dissolve sugar in it. Then add vanilla beans to the sugar syrup. Place the mixture aside so that it cools down quickly and thoroughly. Remove the vanilla bean from the mixture and place the sugar syrup in the refrigerator.
Making of sweet cream:
Take a large glass and add vanilla extract, heavy cream, and milk to it. Mix all the ingredients and whisk it, cover the glass with a lid and shake dynamically. Then froth the cream or blend it to give it a foamy texture. It will give your coffee a bubbly appearance and will make you love it. Now add the frothy mixture to your cold brew instantly before it falls.
Alternatives for ingredients:
Vanilla beans:
Suppose you experience difficulty in finding vanilla beans in your grocery store. In that case, you can use a half teaspoon of paste made up of vanilla beans or either substitute it with vanilla extract (1 tablespoon).
Milk:
Starbucks uses only 2% of milk to make Starbucks cold brew. Add milk for a creamier texture. Therefore, it is easy to substitute it with whipped cream. Use non-fat milk as an alternative, but sweet cream gives a loose consistency.
Sweet cream:
If you are lactose intolerant and need a dairy-free mug of cold brew, you can use plant-derived milk to make your drink or a smoothly whipped vegan-derived cream as a substitute.
Coconut cream is also considered a substitute. But due to its different taste, it may affect the overall flavor of cold brew.
Sugar:
If one wants to avoid carbohydrates and calories in the drink, then prevent the usage of granulated sugar and substitute it with brown sugar or any other natural sweetening agent which does not affect the overall flavor of cold brew.
Is the drink lovely?
The vanilla syrup made for the cold brew is a little bit sweet but isn’t super sweet. But if anyone wishes to avoid sweetness in the drink, they should use less quantity of vanilla syrup.
Is it healthy to take a cold brew?
Cold-brew coffee itself has a very low amount of calories and is free of all fatty ingredients. Suppose you want to enjoy sweet, creamy coffee and want to fulfill your sugar craving. You can make it less sweet by substituting the sugar with any natural sweetening agent, making it a low-calorie drink, perfect for health-conscious individuals!
How much caffeine is present in a cold brew?
The quantity of caffeine in the cold brew drink depends on the strength and type of coffee one wants. The stronger the blend of coffee is, the more caffeine is present in the coffee. Some kinds of coffee have more caffeine than others, i.e., espresso, dark roast coffee, and blonde roast coffee have the least amount of caffeine in them.
You can use decaf coffee to make an utterly caffeine-free coffee using this same recipe. If steeping of coffee is done for a longer duration, it will eventually boost the amount of caffeine in your drink.
Keeping ingredients for later use:
All of the ingredients required to make vanilla-flavored sweet cream can be stored in the refrigerator for later use in the coffee. The fresh brew can give the best flavor to the coffee, but steeping the coffee requires approximately 12 hours.
This cold brew coffee has a slightly different taste as compared to hot coffee. Secondly, steeping the coffee for an even longer duration does not affect the taste of coffee. Hence it can be done for even 48 hours if anyone wishes to.
Health benefits:
Now a day’s cold brew coffee is getting famous among coffee lovers all over the world. Instead of extracting flavor and caffeine from the coffee beans, this method uses the steeping of coffee beans in cold water for about 12-24 hours. This method reduces the bitterness of coffee and offers many kinds of health benefits:
It helps you lift your mood. In addition, the amount of caffeine present in cold brew coffee makes the state of mind better.
It lessens the chances of Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease.
It amplifies your rate of metabolism, and the higher the metabolism rate, the greater the number of calories you burn.
It reduces the risk of heart diseases. In addition, the presence of caffeine, magnesium, phenolic compounds present in coffee stabilizes our blood sugar level, decreases blood pressure, and enhances insulin sensitivity. The drink also contains specific agents that act as antioxidants and also have an anti-inflammatory effect.
- It decreases the overall chances of death and therefore increases your life span.
- It boosts up your immunity and can be very easy for your digestive system.
- It is straightforward to brew cold coffee at home.
- It can be used as the best alternative to hot coffee and is less bitter and acidic.
- It gives a creamy and thick texture that makes it somehow different from regular coffee.
- Sometimes, to enhance aroma and flavor, Starbucks uses nitrogen.
- This brew can help in reducing the risk of diabetes. For example, having 4 to 6 cups of cold brew coffee reduces the risk of diabetes.