Salted Caramel Cream Cold Brew: Recipe & Cold Foam

Salted Caramel Cream Cold Brew Recipe

Makes one iced drink in about 5 minutes, with the coffee already cold. Use a 500 ml glass for the ice, coffee and foam. Its capacity is not the finished drink yield: ice shape and foam expansion affect the space used.

Ingredients

• 200 ml chilled ready-to-drink cold brew
• 120 g ice
• 30 g cold heavy whipping cream
• 30 g cold whole milk
• 10 ml Monin US regular Caramel Syrup
• 0.2 g fine salt

The named syrup anchors the serving calculation; another drink syrup can work, but check its label and strength. Measure syrup in ml and dairy in g. For the small salt dose, use a scale reading 0.1 g. A pinch is less reproducible, and coarse salt occupies a different spoon volume from fine salt.

Before You Start

Have a narrow frothing jug, handheld milk frother, scale and marked volume measure ready. Use a jug deep enough to cover the whisk head with this small portion. Cold-brew concentrate must be diluted first according to its label or recipe, then measured as 200 ml ready-to-drink coffee. Melting ice is not a reliable substitute for that dilution.

For a homemade base, follow the cold-brew brewing guide before starting this five-minute assembly. Brewing, filtering and chilling that coffee take additional time.

Method

1. Put 120 g ice in a 500 ml glass and add 200 ml chilled ready-to-drink cold brew.
2. In a narrow frothing jug, stir 30 g cold heavy cream, 30 g cold whole milk, 10 ml caramel syrup and 0.2 g fine salt until the salt dissolves.
3. Froth briefly with a handheld frother until the cream is lightly aerated and still pourable. Stop before it forms stiff peaks.
4. Pour all the salted caramel foam over the iced coffee and serve promptly.

Start with the whisk submerged to avoid splashing, then introduce a little air. Judge the endpoint by texture rather than a fixed timer. The foam should flow from the jug in a soft ribbon. You can sip through the cap or stir it in for a more even sweetness.

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How to Make Salted Caramel Cold Foam Pourable

Keep the dairy cold and stop frothing while it still flows. Cream supplies richness; milk loosens the mixture. Continuing until you can stand up a firm peak gives you a topping to spoon onto the drink, rather than foam that travels into the coffee as you sip.

The salt should season the caramel, not make the drink taste like brine. Start with the measured 0.2 g. If you want to change it next time, alter the salt while keeping the syrup and dairy fixed. Increasing syrup and salt together makes it harder to identify which change helped.

A small hand whisk is an alternative if it reaches the mixture well; it may give less aeration. A spoon alone combines the ingredients but does not produce the same foam. This recipe does not require hot milk or a steam wand.

Caramel Syrup, Sauce and the Starbucks Version

This recipe uses a flowing beverage syrup, not a thick caramel sauce. Sauce may contain dairy and other ingredients, and its sweetness and density can differ. Do not substitute 10 g sauce for 10 ml syrup and keep the original nutrition figures. If using sauce, follow its label, dissolve it through the dairy and recalculate the amount you serve.

The US Starbucks menu, checked 26 September 2026, lists vanilla syrup and salted caramel cream cold foam in the default drink customization. Our home version puts its measured caramel syrup in the foam and adds no syrup to the coffee. It is not a claim to reproduce a proprietary café recipe. Sizes, customization and local menus change the finished drink.

For a hot espresso drink with milk throughout, see caramel latte. For a different salted-cream coffee tradition, Vietnamese salt coffee has its own coffee base and serving method.

How Much Syrup Should You Use?

Here is an ingredient-label calculation keeping the coffee, cream, milk and salt unchanged:

For this named syrup, each extra 5 ml adds 4 g sugar and about 17 kcal. That makes syrup a useful first adjustment when the drink is too sweet. Removing the syrup also removes the measured caramel flavor; adding extra salt is not a substitute for reducing sugar.

Calories, Sugar and Caffeine

The defined home serving is about 160 kcal, 10.4 g total sugar and 70 mg caffeine using the named coffee reference. It contains milk. These estimates count all the foam, with no extra caramel drizzle or sweetener in the coffee.

The caffeine comes from the coffee, not the foam. STōK UN-SWEET Black in the 48 oz bottle is the specific reference here; another brand, concentrate or homemade batch can differ substantially. Cream softens the coffee's flavor without removing its caffeine.

Variations and Keeping It Cold

• Less sweet: try 5 ml syrup in the same foam before changing the coffee or cream.
• Decaf: use a ready-to-drink decaf cold brew; its caffeine needs its own reference and is not necessarily zero.
• Dairy-free: use a plant cream and plant drink intended for cold frothing. Texture and nutrition will differ; check every ingredient label. Omitting the milk alone does not make cream foam dairy-free.
• Iced coffee instead: fully chilled brewed coffee can replace the cold brew. It becomes a salted caramel cream iced coffee; use that coffee's strength and caffeine information.

Froth near serving time for the best chance of retaining a distinct cap. Keep unused dairy and any prepared foam refrigerated at 4°C/40°F or below, following the ingredient labels. FDA guidance limits perishable food at room temperature to two hours, or one hour above 32°C/90°F. This guide does not establish a multi-day storage life for a mixed homemade foam.

Common Questions

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