Caramel Brûlée Latte: Hot and Iced Recipe

Caramel Brûlée vs. Caramel Latte

Look for the flavoring, not a flame. Our brûlée-style latte uses a dedicated dessert syrup with vanilla and toffee notes. A caramel latte can use ordinary caramel sauce or syrup without that particular flavor combination.

The Starbucks version provides a useful café reference: its 2024 holiday description specifies caramel brûlée sauce, espresso, steamed milk, whipped cream and a crunchy topping. The measured home recipe below uses a different ingredient and omits the toppings. It is not an exact copy of that café formula.

See caramel macchiato for that layered preparation. “Crème brûlée latte” is also a useful description of this syrup-based home version; it does not mean you are adding a ramekin of custard.

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Caramel Brûlée Latte Recipe

Makes one hot latte in about 5 minutes with equipment ready. Use a 250 ml cup for pouring space, not as an exact finished-volume claim.

Ingredients

• 18 g coffee, ground for espresso
• 160 g cold whole milk
• 15 ml Monin France Crème Brûlée syrup

Use a scale for coffee and milk, and a marked ml measure for syrup. This is the regular French product, whose published label is the nutrition basis. A different brand, region or sauce can have a different concentration and ingredient list.

Method

1. Measure 15 ml crème brûlée syrup into a warmed 250 ml cup.
2. Brew 18 g ground coffee to 36 g espresso. Add it to the syrup and stir.
3. Steam 160 g cold whole milk to about 60–65°C with fine, pourable foam.
4. Swirl the pitcher and pour all the milk into the flavored espresso. Serve without toppings.

The espresso brewing guide covers extraction. 18 g is the dry coffee dose; 36 g is the collected drink. Use a pitcher and steaming setup suitable for this milk portion. The calculation counts all 160 g of the original milk, not extra milk left in a larger pitcher.

Optional Caramel Crunch

For a crisp finish, add a little ready-made caramelized-sugar topping immediately before drinking, following its label. Keep it separate until serving; a crunch added early will soften in the drink. Whipped cream is another optional café-style addition.

Do not torch the surface of the latte. This recipe gets its dessert character from the syrup. Any added topping changes its calories, sugar and potentially allergens; the photograph's separate caramel pieces are not included in the figures.

Iced Caramel Brûlée Latte

Mix 15 ml syrup with 36 g hot espresso, then cool briefly. Put 120 g ice into a 350 ml glass, add 120 g cold whole milk, and pour in the flavored espresso. Stir before drinking. There is no milk-steaming step.

This smaller milk portion leaves room for ice. With the same syrup it comes to about 125 kcal and 18.1 g total sugar. The espresso portion, and therefore the reference caffeine calculation, stays the same. The iced latte guide explains the plain drink's assembly.

Choose the Flavor Before Adding More Sugar

The named syrup's manufacturer describes vanilla and toffee notes. That is the intended flavor direction, not a claim from our own tasting trial. Espresso adds roast character; milk softens the mixture.

If all you have is regular caramel syrup, you can make a caramel latte, but there is no verified universal spoon-for-spoon substitute for a specific brûlée sauce. White chocolate sauce, condensed milk and custard powder each create a different drink. They are not required ingredients here.

For a simpler vanilla direction, use the vanilla latte recipe. A plant-milk variation needs its carton values and heating directions; our whole-milk numbers do not transfer unchanged.

Calories, Sugar and Caffeine

The main hot recipe provides about 150 kcal, 20.1 g total sugar and 75 mg reference caffeine. It contains milk. The named syrup's published ingredients do not list egg or dairy, but that does not describe every sauce, topping or café drink sold under the same name.

Common Questions

Editor's Take

Sources and Further Reading