Irish Cream Cold Brew

An Irish Cream Cold Brew is the ultimate morning cuppa or afternoon pick-me-up for the holidays and springtime. With a heaping spoonful of an Irish cream-flavored cold foam topping, this copycat coffee drink is easy to make at home.

This post contains affiliate links. If you click on one and buy something, Feast + West receives a small commission at no additional cost to you. All opinions are our own. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

Irish Cream Cold Brew recipe

If there’s one cocktail I could enjoy every single day, it’s an Irish coffee.

It’s warm, sweet and packs a boozy punch. But that last reason is why I can’t sip on it every day!

The Irish Cream Cold Brew is the perfect everyday coffee drink to enjoy instead.

It features iced cold brew coffee that’s been sweetened with an Irish cream coffee syrup. On top is a creamy layer of cold foam with another hint of Irish cream flavor.

More coffee drink recipes: Pumpkin Cream Cold Brew • Cinnamon Latte • Whipped Coffee

Why you’ll love this recipe

Making coffee shop drinks at home like an iced brown sugar oat milk shaken espresso or a caramel macchiato is one of the best ways to start the day.

This cold coffee drink is equally great for your morning coffee and the perfect afternoon pick-me-up. Here’s why I think it’ll be one of your new favorite drinks:

• Irish Cream Cold Brew is the perfect drink for warmer days during the winter months.
• It’s much cheaper to make coffee drinks at home than to get them at a coffee shop.
• You can give this coffee drink a boozy kick if you want to!
• It’s made with fresh ingredients so you can feel good about what you’re drinking. And you can sweeten it as much as you like.

Enjoy from the holidays all the way until St. Patrick’s Day, or anytime you’re craving this seasonal drink and some holiday spirit!

What is Irish Cream Cold Brew?

Irish Cream Cold Brew is a coffee drink starring lightly sweetened, cold-brewed coffee over ice that’s topped with a thick layer of cream that has notes of coffee, vanilla and chocolate.

In 2019, Starbucks unveiled the Irish Cream Cold Brew for their holiday menu. The holiday menu is always available for a limited time (usually the month of December) and has included other drinks like the Eggnog Latte, Peppermint Mocha, Sugar Cookie Latte and Gingerbread Latte.

The Starbucks Irish Cream Cold Brew features their in-house Irish cream syrup and a sweet cold vanilla foam on top.

The Starbucks copycat recipe below shows you how to craft your own Irish cream syrup to add to you favorite cold brew and to sweeten your own cold foam.

Ingredients

You only need a few ingredients at the grocery store to make this delicious Irish cream coffee drink.

Heavy cream

The cream layer on top of Irish Cream Cold Brew is similar to whipped cream, but it is not whipped nearly as much. If you’ve ever made whipped cream at home before, you will know you are looking for stiff peaks.

In the case of the cold foam that goes on top of this coffee drink, you will agitate it until it is thick and smooth, but it doesn’t have to be quite as stiff as whipped cream.

To make it, you will need heavy cream or whipping cream. Heavy cream is the same as whipping cream. Either is fine for this recipe, but do not use milk. Milk does not have the proper fat content to be whipped.

To flavor the sweet cream, you can use a few different things:

• Homemade Baileys whipped cream (though not quite as stiff) that has real Irish cream liqueur in it.
• A splash of Irish cream syrup
• Any kind of sugar: granulated sugar, brown sugar, cane sugar or powdered sugar

Irish cream syrup

This coffee is flavored with a delicious Irish cream syrup.

Irish cream syrup has all the flavors of homemade Irish cream liqueur. It’s sweet with flavors of vanilla, coffee, chocolate and Irish whiskey. However, it doesn’t contain cream or any dairy at all.

Though you can buy Irish cream syrup at the store or online, it is super simple to make at home with ingredients you already have on hand.

Here’s what you’ll need to make your own Irish cream syrup:

• sugar
• water
• unsweetened cocoa powder
• Instant espresso powder
• vanilla extract
• a splash of Irish whiskey (optional)

If you have leftover syrup, you can use it in other coffee drinks, like a latte or coffee soda, or try it in a cocktail like an Irish old-fashioned with your favorite Irish whiskey.

Cold brew coffee

We can’t forget the coffee! The Starbucks version uses cold brew coffee, but you could certainly make this with hot coffee if you’d like!

Cold brew coffee is brewed without heat. As a result, the coffee is less bitter and has a pleasant taste for sipping.

While you can buy pre-made cold brew at the grocery store, you could also use coffee that was hot that has cooled down.

Or — my favorite — you can make your own cold brew concentrate at home.

It can be made in a bowl or mason jar with water and your favorite ground coffee beans. I like to use a cold brew jar (pictured above) that was designed for cold-brewing, but you can also do it in a French press coffee maker.

If you make it yourself, plan ahead, because the cold-brewing process takes about 8-12 hours. You can prepare it the night before and have fresh cold brew ready-to-go in the morning.

Easy Irish Cream Cold Foam

Before you get started assembling the coffee, you’ll want to pull together your Irish cream cold foam. Here’s how to make it:

1. Add whipping cream, Irish cream liqueur and sugar to a medium measuring cup or small mixing bowl. (You can also use a little Irish cream syrup if you don’t want to use alcohol.)
2. Using a handheld milk frother or a hand mixer, whip the cream until all ingredients are combined and the mixture has thickened. It does not need to be as stiff as whipped cream, but it should be thick.
3. Store in an airtight, food-safe container for up to 3 days. You may need to re-whip it if it settles.

How to make Irish Cream Cold Brew

Once you have your cold brew coffee and your cold foam to go on top, you’re ready to make a copycat version of the Irish Cream Cold Brew. Here’s how:

First, add ice cubes to a 12-ounce glass. Top with cold brew coffee.

Stir in some Irish cream simple syrup to sweeten, if desired. You could also use vanilla syrup here.

Finally, spoon a layer of the creamy cold foam over top of the cold brew.

If you like, sprinkle a dusting of cocoa powder on top. Then, you’re ready to sip on this deliciousness!

Enjoy with a cheese danish or madeleine, just like you’d get at the coffee shop!

FAQ

More Irish cream recipes

• Irish Iced Coffee
• Baileys Chocolate Chip Cookies
• Guinness Chocolate Cake
• Baileys Iced Coffee