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Enjoy a coffeehouse favorite at home with this iced shaken espresso. Flavored with brown sugar and finished with your favorite milk, this is an easy and delicious way to enjoy your morning coffee or an afternoon pick-me-up.

Tall glass filled with shaken espresso, set on a wooden board.

WHAT IS A SHAKEN ESPRESSO?
HOW TO MAKE THIS BROWN SUGAR SHAKEN ESPRESSO
OTHER OPTIONS AND VARIATIONS
Iced Shaken Espresso Recipe

I probably should have called this “Starbucks at home” week, because that’s what it has become.

Earlier this week I showed you how to make homemade versions of the brown sugar syrup and vanilla sweet cream cold foam. Today, we’re going to talk about making your own iced shaken espresso.

This drink has become super popular and I totally get why. As a iced coffee girl myself, it’s totally the type of coffee drink I love.

So even though I’ll still swing through the drive thru every now and then, it’s great to know how to make this at home for those days when I want to save money (or save myself a trip outside of the house).

Image of shaken espresso in a tall glass showing the frothy top of the espresso.

WHAT IS A SHAKEN ESPRESSO?

If you’ve seen the iced shaken espresso on the Starbucks menu and wondered what it is, you’ve come to the right place.

An iced shaken espresso is honestly exactly what it sounds like: Espresso is shaken with ice and optional flavored syrups, then topped with your choice of milk.

Shaking the espresso cools it quickly and gives it a frothy consistency. It is especially good when paired with a creamy milk.

One of the most popular drinks at Starbucks right now is the brown sugar oat milk shaken espresso. The espresso is flavored with a brown sugar syrup during the shaking process and topped with oat milk.

The nuttiness of the oat milk and the richness of the brown sugar are a perfect pairing with the espresso, but there are a lot of different ways you can make this drink your own.

Ingredients for iced shaken espresso on a wooden board.

HOW TO MAKE THIS BROWN SUGAR SHAKEN ESPRESSO

Iced shaken espresso is so easy to make. In fact, once you see how easy it is, you’ll wonder why you never tried making it before!

But it also sounds fancy, so it’s great to make when you have guests over. You know how I love to impress people with deceptively simple recipes!

What you’ll need

To make this drink, you will need:

3 shots espresso
2 tablespoons homemade brown sugar syrup
⅛ teaspoon ground cinnamon
⅓ cup oat milk or your personal milk preference

You can use any espresso you like. I happen to keep the Starbucks Blonde Espresso Roast on hand, but any espresso you like works here.

My homemade brown sugar syrup recipe makes 12 servings (2 tablespoons per serving), so you’ll be able to make 12 iced shaken espressos using a single batch of the syrup.

I do really love the combination of oat milk with the brown sugar syrup in this recipe, but feel free to use your own favorite milk.

In addition to the ingredients listed above, you will also need a 12-ounce jar with a tight-fitting lid. If you happen to have a cocktail shaker, you can use that instead.

And of course you will need ice! You’ll need about 1 ½ cups of ice. Remember that some of it will melt down into the espresso as you shake it.

Pouring brown sugar syrup into espresso in a mason jar.

Adding cinnamon to espresso in a mason jar.

Making this recipe

To make your iced shaken espresso, brew the espresso and add it to your jar or shaker with the brown sugar syrup and cinnamon. Depending on how you are brewing your espresso, you can brew it right into the jar or shaker if you like.

Give the ingredients a quick stir, then add in the ice and close the lid tightly. Shake the jar vigorously for about 30 seconds to cool and aerate the espresso.

Pour the contents of the jar into a tall glass – alternatively, you can strain the espresso over fresh ice – and top with your milk of choice.

Frothy, iced shaken espresso being poured into a glass.

OTHER OPTIONS AND VARIATIONS

Remember how I said that even though the brown sugar and oat milk combo is super popular, there are lots of ways to make this iced shaken espresso your own?

If you don’t want to make the brown sugar syrup, simply add 1 tablespoon (more or less to taste) of brown sugar in the jar with your hot espresso and stir to dissolve the sugar before shaking with the ice.
Make your drink extra fancy by topping it with vanilla sweet cream cold foam.
Try out other flavors of syrups! Use vanilla coffee syrup, cinnamon simple syrup, gingerbread syrup, or even a classic simple syrup.

No matter how you prefer it, this iced shaken espresso is a great recipe to keep on hand for those coffeehouse mornings at home.