Cracked and Caffeinated: Easy Copycat Recipes of Drinks From Your Favorite Coffee Shops

Since Holy Week means that many of our favorite coffee shops and cafés will be closed, here are some copycat recipes that we brewed up!

With Holy Week fast approaching, we’re expecting a lot of our favorite coffee shops, cafés, and haunts to close up for the long weekend. But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be left without our favorite coffee recipes. It’s one of the many little luxuries that we afford for ourselves and once we know how to make it, we might find ourselves saving more money in the long run.

Our favorite coffee recipes, decoded

With your kitchen completely stocked up, here are some of the coffee recipes we’ve managed to crack.

Caramel Macchiato à la Starbucks

One of Starbucks‘ most popular coffee recipes, some coffee drinkers even call this the gateway drink for many non-coffee drinkers. Because of the caramel, milk, and vanilla, the coffee’s bitterness mellows out. Oftentimes, baristas use Arabica beans from European countries or even the Philippines for this coffee creation because of its milder flavor compared to the ones in South America that have strong citrus notes.

Ingredients

• 30 ml (1 oz) espresso shot
• 210 ml milk
• 1 Tbsp vanilla extract
• Caramel syrup

Instructions

1. Mix the espresso shot and vanilla extract together.
2. Shake milk in a jar for 30 seconds.
3. Heat milk in a pan for the next 30 seconds.
4. Pour into the mug with your espresso and vanilla extract.
5. Drizzle some caramel syrup on top and enjoy.

Tips

• Lining the sides of the mug or glass with caramel syrup may spread the caramel flavor better instead of just drizzling it on top.
• To create the iced version, we suggest letting the espresso shot and vanilla extract sit for at least 2 minutes or until it’s a bit warmer. That way, we don’t end up breaking our mugs due to temperature shock.

Ice Blended Mocha à la Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf

Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf originally made a name for itself because of its ice-cold, coffee-based drinks. Their ice-blended coffee selections are always a fun treat when suffering from the sweltering heat in the Philippines.

Kori Kohi à la UCC

UCC’s Koori Kohi, which is just Japanese for iced coffee, is your ticket to enjoying pure, not watered-down coffee. Unlike the others that rely on espresso shots in their liquid form, Koori Kohi relies on heated milk and frozen coffee cubes.

Ingredients

• 240 ml brewed coffee
• 180 ml warmed milk

Instructions

1. In an ice tray, fill each nook with coffee and freeze it. Depending on how hot the coffee was, it should take an average of 1 to 2 hours, with best results if left in the freezer overnight.
2. When you’re ready to drink your coffee, heat your milk until there are small wisps of steam. Make sure it doesn’t boil—curdled milk is not good.
3. Let it cool for 30 seconds.
4. In a glass, fill it to the brim with your coffee cubes.
5. Pour the milk SLOWLY and enjoy!

Tips

• UCC has a particular way of roasting—known as sumiyaki—wherein they roast the beans over coal. This gives its unique smoky flavor. However, there are ways to do this by slightly oversteeping your coffee for 15 seconds or so. They also sell the beans in their restaurant.
• For sweeteners, they usually have a sugar syrup which we can copy by melting sugar rocks in water or sugar in water.

Vietnamese Coffee à la Bánh Mì or Pho Hoa

If we’re looking for something that will kick us awake without fail, it’s the Vietnamese Coffee from restaurants and stalls like Bánh Mì or Pho Hoa.

Unlike the other creations, it doesn’t rely on espressos. Instead, it relies on the pour-over technique wherein there’s a filter on top that houses your coarsely ground coffee beans and we just pour the water through it. As it drips down, it mixes with the condensed milk, based which gives it that sharp but milky sweetness that wakes us up.

Ingredients

• 240 ml brewed coffee
• 2 Tbsp condensed milk

Instructions

1. Add 2 table spoons of condensed milk into a mug.
2. Brew your coffee by pouring over hot water through a filter containing the coffee grinds. Feel free to use a French press too!
3. Pour the coffee in and stir.

Tips

• If you want iced Vietnamese coffee, mix the coffee recipe in a mug first. Stir it to let out some of the heat before SLOWLY pouring it into a glass.
• For stronger coffee, feel free to swap out the brewed coffee for an Espresso or a Cold Brew.

Iced Sweet Black with Vanilla à la McCafé

For those who can’t take milk, McCafé’s iced Sweet Vanilla Black has become the go-to. Besides, there are McDonald’s joints everywhere! But this time, we’re going to get our money’s worth of caffeine. While they do use a Vanilla syrup, it can sometimes be too sweet which is why we make it ourselves.

Ingredients

• 240 mL of Brewed Coffee
• 4 pumps of Vanilla Syrup
• Ice

Instructions

1. Brew your coffee in any way you like.
2. While waiting, add 2 pumps of Vanilla syrup at the base of your glass.
3. Add ice to fill 1/4 of the glass.
4. Next, cool the coffee a little before pouring it slowly into the chilled glass. Pour until it’s half the ice.
5. Swirl a little to cool.
6. Add the last 2 pumps of vanilla syrup on top of the ice.
7. Slowly pour the rest of the coffee.

Tips

• For stronger coffee, feel free to swap out the brewed coffee for an Espresso or a Cold Brew.
• Cold Brew has a stronger kick, but it won’t dissolve the syrup as quickly as hot coffee.

Pumpkin Spice Latté à la Starbucks or Krispy Kreme

No need to wait until Fall to get your Pumpkin Spice Latté! Make it yourself at home instead by buying the exact spices—cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, allspice, and cloves. Some don’t even put all the aforementioned spices; they just put the cinnamon and nutmeg. But how do they get that flavor to spread throughout all the coffee when the spices don’t mix?

Simple: they buy the syrup. The result is the comforting pumpkin notes in the coffee while having the spices, leaving out the inconvenience of that grainy texture.

Ingredients

• 30 ml (1 oz) espresso shot
• 210 ml milk
• 1 Tbsp vanilla extract
• Pumpkin spice syrup

Instructions

1. Mix the espresso shot, 1 pump of pumpkin spice syrup, and vanilla extract together.
2. Shake milk in a jar for 30 seconds.
3. Heat milk in a pan for the next 30 seconds.
4. Pour into the mug with your espresso and vanilla extract.
5. On top, drizzle some pumpkin spice syrup and enjoy.

Tips

• Lining the sides of the mug or glass with pumpkin spice syrup may spread the flavor better instead of just drizzling it on top.
• For the iced version, we suggest letting the espresso shot and vanilla extract sit for at least 2 minutes or until it’s a bit warmer. That way, we don’t end up breaking our mugs due to temperature shock.
• If you’re not ready to invest in 500 mL of syrup, just mix cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, allspice, and cloves in their powder form with melted sugar and you’ll have your homemade syrup!
  • Some say that monkfruit sugar behaves similarly to sugar when melted while offering diabetic-friendly options!

Butterscotch Latté à la Figaro

Figaro’s signature drink includes the Butterscotch Latté—warming the soul with the rich, creamy, and honey-butter-like taste. The best part is that butterscotch is one of the common syrup flavors, which makes it easier to make at home!

Ingredients

• 30 ml (1 oz) espresso shot
• 210 ml milk
• 1 Tbsp vanilla extract
• Butterscotch syrup

Instructions

1. Mix the espresso shot and vanilla extract together.
2. Shake milk in a jar for 30 seconds.
3. Heat milk in a pan for the next 30 seconds.
4. At the base of the mug, add 2 to 3 pumps of butterscotch syrup.
5. Pour your espresso and vanilla extract into the mug.
6. Swirl and then add the milk to make your Butterscotch Latté!

Tips

• You can try adding butterscotch syrup onto the sides so every sip has a buttery flavor.
• For the iced version, we suggest letting the espresso shot and vanilla extract sit for at least 2 minutes or until it’s a bit warmer. That way, we don’t end up breaking our mugs due to temperature shock.
• If you’re not ready to invest in 500 ml of syrup, melt butter and brown sugar together to create a syrup for your drink. Just remember to refrigerate and quickly use up any extras, as the shelf life of these homemade creations isn’t very long.

The coffee beans for these recipes are usually medium-dark roast!

With all these recipes, now comes the next part: what kind of beans to buy? Most cafés buy medium to dark because it’s not so acidic, has a well-balanced flavor profile, and has lower caffeine content, preventing their customers from having palpitations. However, some recipes like Vietnamese Coffee require dark roast which makes the coffee sweeter and more chocolatey albeit oilier.

Whether or not we choose to abstain from coffee this Holy Week, knowing these coffee recipes will most likely make our mornings a little more sprightly.

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