Iced Brown Sugar Oatmilk Shaken Espresso {Starbucks Copycat} (2024)

If you like your iced coffee a little bit strong, a little bit sweet, and a little bit creamy, you'll love Starbucks' shaken espressos! This Iced Brown Sugar Oatmilk Shaken Espresso is easy to make at home and the perfect way to kick off your day or add enjoyment to your afternoon.

I'm pretty sure that shaken espressos are my all-time favorite Starbucks invention. As someone who loves coffee and doesn't love too much sweetness, but does like experimenting with different fun flavors, they are pretty much my dream come true.

Shaken espressos have the bold flavor of espresso along with flavored syrup and a big splash of oat milk. Of course, you can control how much sweetness and milk are in your drink when you order at the shop. And you can do that even more when you make your drink at home.

This copycat Iced Brown Sugar Oatmilk Shaken Espresso is so easy to make at home and to customize however you like it!

❤️ Why you'll love this recipe

If you're a fan of shaken espressos, you'll certainly want to try this brown sugar one. And if you've never had one before, the brown sugar version is the way to start!

It's a pretty basic drink and just relies on a deliciously bold espresso, the sweet molasses-like flavor of brown sugar, and the creamy nuttiness of oat milk.

The brown sugar shaken espresso is also incredibly easy to make at home with just a few ingredients. You can make the syrup in advance and keep it in your fridge and you'll be ready to enjoy a shaken espresso in just a few minutes!

🗒 Ingredients

You only need a few simple ingredients to make this Starbucks copycat drink (but be sure to view the recipe card at the bottom of this post for ingredient amounts and full recipe instructions):

• Brewed espresso(or strongly brewed coffee): Starbucks generally uses a blonde espresso roast for their shaken espressos. But you can use dark roast if you prefer.
• Brown sugar syrup: You can make your own with the recipe I'm sharing in this post or you can buy a bottle of it. You can purchase the brown sugar Starbucks uses or you can use a less expensive brown sugar syrup.
• Ice
• Oat milk: Of course, you can swap it out with the dairy or non-dairy alternative of your choice
• Ground cinnamon: for topping

If you're going to make your own simple syrup, you just need:

• Water
• Brown sugar: you can use light or dark brown sugar

🤎 How to make brown sugar syrup

Making homemade brown sugar syrup is so easy. And once you have a batch made, you can keep it in your fridge and whip up an iced brown sugar shaken espresso whenever you want!

I have a whole post on how to make brown sugar syrup, but I'll also give you the quick and easy rundown here.

All you have to do is add water and brown sugar to a medium saucepan and bring to a boil over medium-high heat.

And then lower the heat and let mixture simmer for about 10 minutes, until sugar is completely dissolved and syrup has thickened a bit. Note that it will continue to thicken as it cools.

Remove the saucepan from the heat and pour syrup into a heat-proof bowl, mason jar, or other airtight container. Place bowl or jar in fridge to cool completely before using.

And you're ready to enjoy it!

This brown sugar syrup has a ton of uses, but my favorite use really is to enjoy it in iced coffee and especially in shaken espressos.

🧋 How to make Iced Brown Sugar Oatmilk Shaken Espresso

Now that you've either made or bought your brown sugar syrup, you're ready to whip up your delicious drink!

I like to brew my espresso in my Nespresso machine, but you can use any other espresso maker or a french press. Or you can even use strong brewed coffee.

All you have to do is add the espresso and syrup to a co*cktail shaker or mason jar filled with ice cubes. Make sure it has a tight-fitting lid as you'll be shaking things up.

In a standard grande shaken espresso drink, Starbucks use 3 shots of espresso, which equates to 3 ounces.

And they use about 4 pumps of brown sugar syrup, which equates to about 2 ounces of syrup. However, this is somewhat contested as some baristas say a pump is 1 ounces in a shaken espresso and some say it's a ½ ounce.

I like to make the drink with 1 ½ oz of the syrup, but once you make it, give it a taste and add more if you want.

Now, shake the mixture vigorously for about 20 seconds until the espresso is nice and frothy.

Just like that!

And pour the entire contents of the shaker, ice included, into a glass

Now pour in your oat milk. I recommend using about ½ cup, but you can, of course, use more or less to suit your own tastes.

I love the way it swirls in with the espresso and syrup.

The Starbucks Iced Brown Sugar Oatmilk Shaken Espressos are topped with cinnamon powder, so I sprinkle a dash of cinnamon over the top.

And take a big first sip... I can't get over how simple this iced coffee drink is, but how absolutely packed with awesome flavor it is. It's so good!!

Honestly, this iced espresso tastes just like the Starbucks version and is 10 out of 10, no changes needed.

🎉 Variations on recipe

Of course, one of the great things about Starbucks drinks is that it's so easy to make changes and alterations. It can be fun to take a standard drink and add some of your favorite ingredients into it to change the flavor profile.

Here are a few things you can do to the brown sugar shaken espresso:

• Add more or less espresso. If you want to add extra espresso shots, go for it! The more, the merrier.

• Add more or less brown sugar syrup. Same goes for the syrup; it's all based on personal preferences. If you like super sweet drinks, you can add as much as you want. Or you can use less if you prefer a stronger coffee flavor and less sugar.

• Use the dairy or non-dairy alternative of your choice. Starbucks uses oat milk in this drink, but you can use almond milk, soy milk, coconut milk, or any kind of milk you want. A splash of heavy cream will add even more creaminess.

• Add white mocha sauce.

• Add sweet cream cold foam. You can make vanilla sweet cream cold foam, pumpkin cold foam, macadamia cream cold foam, cinnamon caramel cold foam, pistachio cream cold foam, or even chocolate cream cold foam.

• Add a caramel drizzle.

• Add any of the flavored syrups of your choice. So many flavors complement brown sugar, so you can really add whatever you want. I especially recommend caramel syrup, cinnamon dolce syrup, or vanilla syrup. If you don't have other syrups, but like the idea of extra flavor, stir in some vanilla extract.

☕️ Can I make this drink hot?

There's no such thing as a hot shaken espresso, since the whole idea of the drink is to shake the espresso with ice.

However, you can make a really similar drink hot by adding brown sugar syrup to hot espresso or coffee and mixing in creamy oat milk.

Don't forget to sprinkle a little cinnamon over the top, too.

⚡️ How much caffeine is in this drink?

According to Starbucks, there is about 225 mg of caffeine in a grande Iced Brown Sugar Oatmilk Shaken Espresso.

If you need a point of comparison, there's about 165 mg in a grande iced coffee and about 205 mg in a grande cold brew coffee.

Note that blonde roast typically has more caffeine than other roasts, so if you want your shaken espresso to have less caffeine, use a different roast.

🧊 More Starbucks iced drinks

I've always said I'm a hot coffee girl, but when it comes to Starbucks, I want all their iced coffee drinks! And their fruity iced drinks, too. And I love making copycat versions at home. Here are a few of my favorite Starbucks iced drink copycat recipes:

You can see all my Starbucks recipes here.

If you already love Starbucks' shaken espressos, you should definitely try making the homemade version in your own kitchen. And if you haven't tried them yet, this simple recipe is a great place to start!

Whether you want to start your morning with a sweet and creamy caffeine kick or you want a delicious afternoon treat, the brown sugar shaken espresso is the perfect drink for you!

Do you love shaken espressos?

📖 Recipe