Are you craving a café treat you can make at home in minutes? Then you’re in the right place!
Quick Answer: What is an iced brown sugar latte?
An iced brown sugar latte is an iced latte that’s sweetened with a simple homemade brown sugar syrup and a double shot of espresso. It’s smooth, refreshing, and ridiculously easy to customize.
In this article, you’ll find exactly what you need: a concise ingredient list, a quick brown sugar syrup recipe, step-by-step instructions for crafting the perfect icy glass, and flavor options to customize your drink.
Whether you use an espresso machine, strong coffee, or cold brew, you’ll have a café-style iced latte ready in five minutes. Let’s get started!

What is an iced brown sugar latte?
As I’ve mentioned above, an iced brown sugar latte is a chilled milk and espresso drink sweetened with brown sugar syrup.
The syrup adds warmth and the light toffee flavor that pairs perfectly with espresso.

There are various ways to make an iced latte at home, but I’ll outline the easiest method in this article.
Before getting into the details of the recipe, below is what you need to have on hand to get started!
Which ingredients are needed for this recipe?
To make an iced brown sugar latte at home, you only need four main ingredients:
- Espresso coffee
- Whole milk
- Brown sugar syrup
- Ice cubes

As you can see, there are just a few ingredients needed to make this iced latte a success.
For the best flavor possible, consider using coffee ice cubes instead of regular ice cubes.
These coffee ice cubes will melt into your iced latte, releasing more coffee flavor, rather than diluting it with water from regular ice cubes.
You can check out the recipe for it right here!
Which coffee is best used?
Depending on the flavor profile you’re looking for, you can adjust the recipe by using different coffees.
I’ll list a few coffees you can use instead of espresso coffee:
- You can try ristretto shots for an even stronger coffee flavor
- Try making it with cold brew coffee instead of espresso. Swap the espresso for 100 ml of cold brew for a different flavor
- Use regular brewed coffee instead of espresso

Even if you don’t have an espresso machine or a different way to make espresso-style coffee, you can still give this recipe a go.
If you’re using regular brewed coffee, I suggest brewing it a bit stronger than you usually do.
The extra strength will help balance out the sweetness you get from the syrup and the milk.
For this recipe, I recommend using medium or dark-roasted coffee beans. A light roast doesn’t work well with the brown sugar syrup.
How to make brown sugar syrup at home
Making brown sugar syrup at home is one of the easiest things to do.
To get started, you’ll only need two ingredients:
- 1/2 cup (120 grams) of brown sugar
- 1/2 cup (0.12 L) of cold tap water
Once you’ve collected these ingredients, you can follow the steps below:
- Combine the brown sugar and water in a small saucepan
- Bring to a gentle simmer, stirring until the sugar dissolves
- Simmer 2–3 minutes to thicken slightly
- Remove from the heat and let it cool
- After cooling, store it in a bottle for easy access

Keep this syrup refrigerated until you’re ready to use it. This syrup will remain fresh for approximately a week in the refrigerator.
However, if you’re not using that much at a time, make a smaller batch that lasts 2 or 3 days for the best-tasting syrup (and coffee) every day.
This recipe is based on my cinnamon brown sugar syrup, which you can check out here.
Now that you know what ingredients are needed and how to make the brown sugar syrup at home, give the complete recipe a try below:
Iced Brown Sugar Latte
This easy iced brown sugar latte is the perfect drink to make in under 5 minutes!
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup (0.18 l) whole milk
- Two espresso shots
- 2 tbsp (30 grams) of brown sugar syrup
- Ice cubes
Instructions
- Start by brewing your espresso shots. I suggest using a double espresso (or two single shots) for the best flavor.
- Let the espresso cool slightly before following the next steps. Otherwise, the hot espresso will melt your ice.
- Fill a tall glass with ice cubes to about halfway.
- Add the brown sugar syrup to the glass.
- Slowly pour the milk into the glass.
- Finish with the cooled espresso shots. Pour slowly so that the espresso will stay on top of the milk.
- Enjoy as soon as possible.
- This iced latte is best served with a long straw, allowing you to stir all the flavors together easily.
Notes
If you prefer a sweeter drink, you can always increase the amount of syrup, or you can use a single espresso shot.
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Nutrition Information:
Yield:
1Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 152Total Fat: 5.95gSaturated Fat: 3.41gUnsaturated Fat: 0.35gCholesterol: 18mgSodium: 76.1mgCarbohydrates: 8.27gSugar: 20.6gProtein: 5.89g
Recipe variations you can try
If you love trying out recipes and tweaking them to your desired sweetness level or just a slightly different flavor, you can try these flavor options:
- Use cinnamon brown sugar syrup by adding a tiny bit of ground cinnamon to the syrup, or dusting your iced latte when it’s finished
- Love vanilla? Add a tiny amount of vanilla extract to the syrup when it’s cooling down for a different flavor
- Cold foam the milk for a quick texture boost
These are just a few variations you can try, and I suggest you give the recipe a try and see how you like it.
Conclusion
A homemade iced brown sugar latte is one of the easiest café-style drinks you can make at home.
With just a few ingredients, a quick brown sugar syrup, and a handful of ice, you can pour a creamy latte in five minutes.
Keep a jar of syrup in the fridge, swap in your favorite milk, and try new flavors whenever you feel like it.