Now you can make this Starbucks copycat Iced Chai Tea Latte with Pumpkin Cold Foam at home and save big bucks during the fall season. Five ingredients, five minutes, and you never have to wait in the drive through line.
You know how it goes: September 1st shows up on the calendar, Starbucks releases all its fall drinks, and pumpkins start falling from Heaven. Instead of waiting in those long lines and spending half your paycheck that was supposed to be your Christmas fund, you can make your drinks at home and save time and money.
I have nothing against Starbucks, but you can make a few days of these dreamy delights for the same price as one trip down to your local coffeehouse. If chai is your order, my chai tea guide covers the whole family of drinks.
Quick Look
- 🕒 Prep Time: 5 minutes
- 🌡️ Cook Time: none
- ⏳ Total Time: 5 minutes
- 🍽️ Serving: 1 latte
- ⚡ Calories: 236kcal
- 🌶️ Flavor Profile: Spiced chai over ice under a sweet, pumpkiny cloud of cold foam
- ✋ Difficulty: Easy, the foam is a 30 second blend
Quick Answer
Fill a cup two thirds with ice, add half a cup of cold milk and half a cup of chai tea concentrate, and stir. In a blender, blend 3 tablespoons of heavy cream with 2 tablespoons of pumpkin puree until foam forms, or use a milk frother. Top the chai with the pumpkin cold foam and sprinkle with pumpkin pie spice, nutmeg or cinnamon.
Jump to:
- Quick Look
- Quick Answer
- Why This Recipe Works
- Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- Key Ingredients
- Variations & Substitutions
- How to Make an Iced Chai Latte With Pumpkin Cold Foam
- Recipe Tips & Tricks
- Serving Ideas & Suggestions
- Iced Pumpkin Chai Latte FAQs
- Other Recommended Drink Recipes
- Iced Chai Tea Latte with Pumpkin Cold Foam
Why This Recipe Works
Click to see the technique science
- Cold foam is just barely whipped cream. Blending stops at the foam stage, before peaks, so it pours thick but still floats and slowly cascades into the drink.
- The puree rides the cream. Pumpkin puree alone sinks in milk; blended into heavy cream, the fat suspends it so the foam carries real pumpkin instead of just syrup flavor.
- Concentrate beats brewed tea over ice. Chai concentrate is double strength on purpose, so the melting ice dilutes it to exactly right instead of watery.
- Equal parts milk and concentrate is the coffeehouse ratio; the drink stays bold enough to taste through the foam.
- Cold milk, cold cream, lots of ice. Everything cold keeps the foam sitting on top in a clean layer instead of blending in.
- Puree, not pie filling. Pie filling is pre sweetened and loose, and the foam turns soupy; with puree, you control sweetness with the spice blend.
- The spice dusting blooms on contact. Pumpkin pie spice landing on the damp foam is the aroma that makes it taste like the original.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- You don’t have to wait until September 1 to get one, and you don’t have to go into debt.
- Four or five ingredients, most of which live in your pantry all fall anyway.
- No traffic, no lines. Five minutes in your own kitchen, in your pajamas if you want.
- You control the top. Add what you want, change the spices, pile the foam high.
- Real pumpkin in the foam, not just a pump of syrup.
- It completes the home coffeehouse next to my Starbucks iced chai latte, the dirty chai latte and the caramel brulee latte.
Key Ingredients
Five ingredients, and the spice is optional. Quantities are in the recipe card below.
- Chai Concentrate. Double strength chai that stands up to ice; Chai Keurig Pods. make a quick brewed alternative.
- Whole Milk, cold. Equal parts with the concentrate; any milk you love works.
- Heavy Cream. Three tablespoons become the body of the cold foam.
- Pumpkin Puree, canned, not pie filling. Two tablespoons blend into the cream for real pumpkin flavor.
- Spices. A pumpkin pie spice or chai spice blend dusting on top, or plain cinnamon or nutmeg.
See the recipe card below for exact quantities and full instructions.
Variations & Substitutions
- Dairy free milk works: almond milk, coconut milk or oat milk in the glass.
- Dairy free foam: use full fat coconut milk from a can with a teaspoon of vanilla extract for a sweeter flavor. It will not be as thick, but it will be similar.
- Lighter chai: skinny chai concentrate has fewer calories, or brew your own tea without sweetener and add your favorite sugar substitute.
- Skinny pumpkin syrup can stand in for the puree if you want the flavor without blending.
- Make it hot: warm the milk and concentrate, and float the same cold foam on top for the hot and cold contrast.
- More iced tea weather? My blackberry iced tea, the oat milk matcha latte and the iced blueberry matcha latte round out the pitcher season.
How to Make an Iced Chai Latte With Pumpkin Cold Foam
- In a cup filled two thirds with ice, add the whole milk and chai tea concentrate, and stir.
- In a blender, add the cream and pumpkin puree and blend until foam forms. A Frother works instead of the blender.
- Top the chai tea with the foam and sprinkle with pumpkin pie spice, nutmeg or cinnamon. Add a green straw and you are ready for fall.
Recipe Tips & Tricks
- Stop blending at foam. A few seconds too long and you have whipped cream, which sits like a cap instead of cascading.
- Chill the glass if you want the foam layer to hold its line longest.
- Pour the foam over a spoon held at the surface for the cleanest layer.
- Scale the foam for guests: the cream and puree ratio doubles and triples cleanly in the blender; a Milk Frother is better for one serving at a time.
- Leftover concentrate keeps in the refrigerator for about a week, so one carton makes several days of lattes.
- Leftover puree goes to baking: that half can is exactly what my pumpkin turnovers want.
Serving Ideas & Suggestions
Serve it in a clear glass or mason jar so the foam cascade shows, with the spice dusted on at the table. It is the drink half of a fall afternoon snack with caramel pumpkin cookies, pumpkin bars with cream cheese frosting or a warm pumpkin scone.
For a bigger fall spread, the rest of my pumpkin desserts carry the table, and a chai smoothie with protein covers the breakfast version of the craving.
Iced Pumpkin Chai Latte FAQs
Yes, you can use almond milk, coconut milk or oat milk in the glass. Oat milk is the closest to the coffeehouse version.
Yes. You can get skinny chai concentrate with fewer calories, use chai Keurig pods, or brew your own tea strong without a sweetener and add your favorite sugar substitute.
Use full fat coconut milk from a can and add a teaspoon of vanilla extract for a sweeter flavor. It will not be as thick as the cream version, but it will be similar.
Too thick means it blended past foam into whipped cream; stop as soon as it thickens. Too thin usually means warm cream, so start with cold cream straight from the refrigerator.
Yes, because it uses real pumpkin puree blended into the cream rather than only syrup. The spice dusting on top is what completes the pumpkin pie flavor.
It is best within the hour, held in the refrigerator. It will slowly deflate; a few seconds back in the blender revives it. The chai and milk base can sit mixed in the refrigerator all day; add the ice and foam when serving.
Iced Chai Tea Latte with Pumpkin Cold Foam
Ingredients
- 1/2 Cup Chai Tea Concentrate
- 1/2 Cup Whole Cold Milk
- 3 Tablespoons Heavy Cream
- 2 Tablespoons Pumpkin Puree
- 1/2 Teaspoon Pumpkin Spice Blend Optional
Instructions
- In a cup filled 2/3 with ice, add the whole milk, chai tea concentrate and stir.
- In a blender add the cream and pumpkin puree and blend until foam forms.
- Top the Chai tea with the foam and sprinkle with either pumpkin pie spice, nutmeg, or cinnamon.
Notes
Add a dash of cinnamon, nutmeg, or pumpkin spice on top. You can substitute skinny pumpkin syrup for pumpkin puree.
