Brown Sugar Syrup

Sweeten your coffee, tea and cocktails with this tasty Brown Sugar Syrup! It adds a complex palette of molasses, caramel and toffee to every sip.

About this Brown Sugar Syrup recipe

There are few joys as simple as brown sugar in my coffee. Notes of toffee and caramel? Sign me up for it in every single cup.

Adding brown sugar in simple syrup form makes it so much easier to sweeten drinks, rather than stirring it in. It’s especially wonderful for cold drinks, like iced lattes or iced tea, when adding pure sugar would take forever to dissolve.

Brown sugar syrup is also a key ingredient for brown sugar milk tea, which is a popular bubble tea flavor made with tapioca pearls, whole milk and brown sugar.

Ingredients & essentials

Brown sugar syrup is incredibly easy to make, as it’s made with only two ingredients. It’s so simple, but that’s why you want to use premium ingredients.

Brown sugar, of course, is the starting point. Plain and simple: Any kind of brown sugar that you have will work to make simple syrup! You can use either light brown sugar or dark brown sugar, which will change the flavor. Dark brown sugar will have more molasses flavor than its counterpart. See the section below about brown sugar to learn more about the different types.

And the other ingredient you need is water. I prefer to use filtered water for my simple syrups because the pure, filtered state of the water helps the finished syrup last longer. However, you can totally use bottled water, tap water or the water from your fridge.

You’ll also want to grab a medium saucepan, some measuring cups and a spatula ^* or wooden spoon. Airtight glass bottles or mason jars are great for storing simple syrups in the fridge, too.

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Types of brown sugar

You can make simple syrup with any type of sugar or sweetener, such as honey, but of course, it wouldn’t be brown sugar syrup! If you’re out, you can make this brown sugar substitute with white sugar and molasses.

The production process and color make brown sugar different from white sugar. There are several types of brown sugar you can use in this recipe that will alter the color and flavor ever so slightly.

• Light brown sugar is the most popular type, the one you are used to baking with. It is a combination of refined white sugar and a small amount of molasses.
• Dark brown sugar, also known as old-fashioned brown sugar, is essentially light brown sugar with more molasses added. This one is also popular in baking recipes and has a deep caramel flavor.
• Demerara sugar is a type of raw cane sugar, which is only minimally refined sugar. It has a bold, amber color with subtle flavors of molasses. Demerara syrup is a common ingredient in tiki cocktail recipes.
• Turbinado sugar is another type of raw cane sugar that is minimally processed and has a lovely caramelized flavor.
• Muscovado sugar has a sticky, sand-like texture with an earthy flavor.

Flavor variations

Brown sugar syrup is easy to customize with different flavors — my favorite is a combo cinnamon and vanilla bean, but you can really have a lot of fun here!

Vanilla syrup: Add a splash of vanilla extract or infuse a vanilla bean ^* to make this more like a Starbucks coffee syrup.

Cinnamon syrup: Cook the syrup with a cinnamon stick or two and let them infuse for about half an hour after you remove it from the heat.

Spiced syrup: Add a mixture of spices including cinnamon sticks, cloves, nutmeg, ginger root, citrus peel and star anise to make a spiced syrup with a lovely depth of flavor.

Rich brown sugar syrup: To make a thick syrup, also called a rich syrup, use a 1.5:1 or 2:1 ratio instead. For example, try 1½ or 2 cups sugar to 1 cup water. (A thicker syrup is ideal for adding “tiger stripes” to the inside of the glass when making brown sugar bubble tea.)

How to make Brown Sugar Syrup

This syrup comes together on the stovetop in just a few minutes. We’ll dissolve the sugar and cool it before storing. Once it’s ready, you can use it right away or keep it chilled for later.

Pour brown sugar and cold water into a small saucepan. Turn up the heat to medium-high and stir until the sugar dissolves into the hot water. Don’t let it boil.

Remove from heat and let cool to room temperature. (I like to add an ice cube or two if I’m in a hurry!) You can use it immediately if desired. Let cool completely before storing in a food-safe, airtight bottle, such as a mason jar or other airtight container.

Store leftovers in the fridge for up to one month. If it ever appears cloudy or has an odor, discard and make a new batch. Now you know the cooking process only takes a few minutes!

Uses for brown sugar syrup

Brown sugar syrup adds its signature caramel flavor to hot and cold drinks alike, but a liquid sweetener works better in cold drinks than pure sugar, which takes a longer time to dissolve when it meets chilly temperatures. You can use it as an alternative to regular simple syrup or even maple syrup.

Coffee drinks: Stir it into your morning coffee or espresso drinks like lattes or cappuccinos. Mix it into iced coffee drinks like cold brew coffee or an iced brown sugar oat milk shaken espresso. Or add it to an Irish coffee cocktail to sweeten it.

Tea drinks: Try mixing it into a mug of hot tea such as Earl Grey (my favorite), green tea or rooibos tea. You can also use it to sweeten iced tea. This syrup is also the powerhouse ingredient behind brown sugar boba (aka tapioca pearls), which is used in bubble tea and milk tea of all flavors.

Cocktails & mocktails: Mix it into an Irish old-fashioned cocktail to bring in flavors of toffee and butterscotch along with whiskey, or use it to sweeten a refreshing cocktail like a mojito or an espresso martini. It works in mocktails too, like a tea hot toddy!

Brown sugar syrup is delicious with food recipes too. It’s fantastic at breakfast — you can pour it over French toast, pancakes or even ice cream for dessert.

FAQ

More simple syrup recipes

• Pumpkin Spice Syrup
• Cinnamon Syrup
• Lavender Syrup
• Caramel Syrup
• Vanilla Syrup