Like all cold foam, sweet cream cold foam was made famous by Starbucks and can be used to top many espresso drinks—mostly cold brew and iced coffee. However, buying drinks at Starbucks can get expensive, and people might be surprised to know there’s an easy at-home sweet cream cold foam recipe.
To make sweet cream cold foam, froth milk, heavy cream, and vanilla syrup. You can make vanilla syrup at home by boiling water, sugar, and vanilla extract or buying it in-store. You can then spoon the cold foam over cold brew or iced coffee and enjoy this tasty drink.
Let’s take a closer look at how to make sweet cream cold foam, the ingredients you’ll need, what type of milk to use, and whether you can make a dairy-free version.
How to Make Sweet Cream Cold Foam

Starbucks popularized cold foam, including sweet cream cold foam, which many people choose to top their drinks when they visit the coffee shop. But you don’t need to head to a Starbucks for sweet cream cold foam; instead, you can make it at home.
Here’s how to make sweet cream cold foam. The good news is that you don’t need special tools for this, as many workarounds can make just as delicious cold foam!
Step 1: Make Your Cold Brew (or Iced Coffee)
Cold foam is best used to top cold brew or iced coffee. Although it can be used on top of hot coffee, it won’t work nearly as well.
How you make your coffee will depend on the tools you have at home. Some coffee machines, for example, have an iced setting that can whip up a coffee for you in seconds (in which case, you may want to leave this step to the end, as the cold foam takes a second to make).
To brew cold coffee, you’ll have to steep beans in water. For a fairly concentrated coffee, you can use four cups of water to one cup of beans, but you can always increase one measurement or the other depending on the concentration you want.
You’ll have to steep this for a few hours (preferably overnight) and then pour it through a strainer to get your cold brew.
Whatever coffee you’ve made, pour it over a glass with ice and proceed.
Step 2: Make Your Vanilla Syrup
Vanilla syrup is a key ingredient for sweet cream cold foam. But, of course, you can always buy one (Starbucks even sells its own). Otherwise, you can make your own syrup so that your cold foam is entirely homemade.
To make vanilla syrup, boil together water and sugar until the sugar melts completely, then add a dash of vanilla extract and pour through a strainer. You can add more sugar for a richer or sweeter syrup, but always stay light on the vanilla extract, as this is very strong.
You can then bottle it and have your own homemade vanilla syrup—it is as simple as that.
Step 3: Add Syrup, Milk, and Heavy Cream to a Frother
Now you’ll want a frother (on Amazon) and add three parts heavy cream to one part milk.
Add a little bit of your syrup, too (the more you add, the sweeter the cold foam will be), and then allow the frother to work its magic. It should take around twenty seconds, but your frother will come with its own instructions, as some work differently.
Step 4: Spoon Cold Foam Over Coffee and Serve
You can now spoon the cold foam on top of your coffee, and it’s ready to drink!
Can You Make Sweet Cream Cold Foam Dairy Free?
If you want to make your sweet cream cold foam dairy free, you can, but it may not be as frothy as the original recipe simply because you won’t be able to include the heavy cream!
Many plant-based milks work great for frothing, such as oat and almond milk. Just avoid cashew and rice milk, which have a low-fat content and won’t froth. We’ve created an easy recipe for making oat milk cold foam.
What is the Best Kind of Milk to Use?
If you aren’t using dairy-free milk, you might be surprised that Starbucks uses nonfat milk for its cold foam. It works very well with heavy cream. However, if you’re skipping the heavy cream and using just milk, then 2% or skim milk is the best option.
What is the Best Kind of Coffee to Use?
Since hot coffee doesn’t work very well with cold foam, it’s safe to say that iced and cold brew is the best to use. But as for the beans themselves, that’s entirely up to you.
For example, dark-roasted coffee tends to have a bitter taste, whereas light-roasted coffee is better for those looking to make their coffee sweeter.
Do I Need a Frother?
People often won’t have a frother handy in their home and may not have the time to get one for their cold foam or may not want to spend the money. Fortunately, you can use many frothing alternatives that don’t require a specialized tool.
Method 1: Using a Blender

You can froth milk and/or cream precisely the same way you would with a frother in a blender. Just add your milk, cream, and syrup to the blender and start the speed on slow.
Next, slowly work up to the highest speed and stop the blender; you should now have a perfectly frothed mixture.
Method 2: Using a Handheld Mixer
You can use a handheld mixer in much the same way as a blender. Put your mixture in a bowl you intend to froth, and then start the handheld mixer’s speed on slow. As you would with a blender, slowly work the speed up until it’s at its highest, and you should now have a good result.
Method 3: Use a French Press
In much the same way you could use the above two methods to make a frothed mixture, you could also use a french press.
To do this, put the mixture into a french press-safe container and move the plunger up and down. It should take around thirty seconds for the milk to reach the right consistency, and you’ll know when it has because it should roughly double in size.
Method 4: Use a Mason Jar
The last way to froth milk (but the one that requires the most work) is to use a mason jar.
Put the mixture inside the jar and ensure it’s very tightly sealed. You can then shake the jar vigorously for around a minute. Once you stop, you should have a frothed mixture that will work just as well for cold foam.
Are There Other Things I Can Include in Cold Foam?
The beauty of cold foam is that it’s very versatile, and if the sweet cream cold foam isn’t to your taste, there are many other things you can include.
For example, you might use pumpkin spice syrup instead of vanilla to create your own version of a pumpkin spice latte. Others may use strawberry syrup.
The main thing to remember is to use syrups and extracts in your cold foam. Liquids work better than granular substances, especially if added at the end. Also, consider if your coffee has any flavor before adding anything to your cold foam, as they may not work well together!
It’s fun to investigate with cold foam and find out your tastes. You can also put a topping on the cold foam, such as cinnamon or an extra sprinkling of pumpkin spice.
To Finish
Overall, it’s very easy to make sweet cream cold foam at home. You just have to ensure you use the right kind of milk (which can even be plant-based) and have the proper methods.
Although Starbucks’ sweet cream cold foam is delicious, you don’t have to wander to the coffee shop to get it.