Iced Royal English Breakfast Tea Latte (Starbucks Copycat Recipe)
on Nov 02, 2022, Updated Apr 21, 2023
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Recreate this refreshing Royal English Breakfast Tea Latte at home in a few minutes, the same way that Starbucks does!
Recipe Highlights
- Starbucks makes their Iced Royal English Breakfast Tea Latte with Royal English Breakfast tea, 2% milk, liquid cane sugar, and ice. This recipe uses similar ingredients to make it taste just like the one at Starbucks.
- Teavana Royal English Breakfast tea is used by Starbucks but it’s not available anymore so the ones you see online are priced very high. Instead, Royal English Breakfast tea or regular English Breakfast tea is used and you won’t notice the difference in taste.
- This Starbucks copycat drink will be a grande sized (16 ounces) Iced Royal English Breakfast Tea Latte.
RELATED: Starbucks Royal English Breakfast Tea Latte Copycat
Ingredient Notes
- English Breakfast tea: Since the Teavana tea bags that Starbucks uses is only available at a highly marked up price, use regular English Breakfast tea or Royal English Breakfast tea from another brand.
- White sugar: The drink at Starbucks is made with liquid cane sugar, which is a combo of white sugar and turbinado sugar.
- Turbinado sugar: Turbinado sugar is a raw cane sugar. It adds a deeper depth of flavor.
- 2% milk: Starbucks uses 2% milk by default in all their lattes (tea and coffee), but you can use any milk you like.
- Water: Using filtered water to steep your tea will give it a cleaner flavor.
- Ice: The same advice for water applies to ice. Using filtered water makes for a better tasting drink.
For full ingredients and detailed instructions, please see the recipe card at the bottom of the post.
Step-by-Step Instructions
Step 1: Put tea bags and hot water into a teapot. Cover and steep.
Boil water on the stovetop or use an electric kettle with a temperature setting. For best results, make tea ahead of time and chill in the refrigerator.
Step 2: Discard tea bags and stir in sugars. Make sure sugars are completely dissolved.
Step 3: Put tea, milk, and ice into a cocktail shaker. Shake.
Step 4: Pour contents of cocktail shaker into a cup.
Photo Credit: amazon.com
Recipe Notes
Royal English Breakfast tea tastes pretty much the same as English Breakfast tea.
Royal English Breakfast tea is a blend of a black tea from India and a black tea from Africa. English Breakfast tea is a blend of black teas and every company creates a different blend. Once the tea is combined with milk and sugar, the black teas will pretty much all taste the same.
Make English Breakfast tea ahead of time.
Steep the tea, remove the tea bags, and keep in the refrigerator in an airtight container. Tea (no sugar or anything else) can be stored for up to 4 days.
There are 2 sugars in liquid cane syrup.
This recipe replaces liquid cane sugar syrup with white sugar and turbinado sugar to give it the same flavor and sweetness, without having to use a syrup.
No cocktail shaker?
The baristas at Starbucks handshake their tea lattes in a large plastic cocktail shaker, which is why it has that nice foamy layer on the top. If you don’t already have a cocktail shaker, you can use a large jar with a tight lid. Just make sure it is large enough to shake 16 ounces of liquid plus ice and some room for shaking.
RELATED: Starbucks Iced London Fog Tea Latte Copycat
Expert Tips
- Use tea bags or tea sachets instead of loose tea for mess-free steeping. Since you’re adding milk and sugar, the tea quality doesn’t have to be the best.
- To cool down the tea quickly after steeping it in hot water, Starbucks shakes the hot tea with ice in a cocktail shaker, which is the same method I’m using for this drink.
- Customize this tea latte with cold foam. Top the drink with a homemade vanilla sweet cream cold foam since it pairs nicely with the English Breakfast tea.
RELATED: Starbucks Iced Chai Tea Latte Copycat
Questions You May Have
For a grande size, Royal English Breakfast tea, 2% milk, 4 pumps of liquid cane sugar, and ice are shaken in a cocktail shaker.
Yes. All real teas naturally have caffeine, and English Breakfast is a blend of black teas, which all have caffeine. A grande at Starbucks has about 40 mg of caffeine.
Starbucks uses liquid cane sugar in their Iced Royal English Breakfast Tea Latte, and you can also make your own simple syrup, but it is faster to dissolve white granulated sugar and turbinado sugar for this recipe. The turbinado sugar is a dark brown sugar with a pronounced cane sugar flavor, and the granulated sugar is sweeter, so the flavors in this drink will be the same as at Starbucks.
Related
- Starbucks London Fog Tea Latte Copycat
- Starbucks Iced Black Tea Copycat
- Starbucks Iced Black Tea Lemonade Copycat
- Starbucks Iced Green Tea Copycat
- Starbucks Iced Passion Tango Tea Lemonade Copycat
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Starbucks Iced Royal English Breakfast Tea Latte Copycat
Equipment
Ingredients
- 2 English Breakfast tea bags
- ¾ cup hot water
- 2 teaspoons white granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons turbinado sugar
- ½ cup 2% milk
- 1 cup ice
Instructions
- Put tea bags and hot water into a teapot. Cover and steep for 5 minutes.Boil water on the stovetop or use an electric kettle with a temperature setting. Set water temperature to 195°F. For best results, make tea ahead of time and chill in the refrigerator.
- Discard tea bags and stir in sugars.Make sure sugars are fully dissolved.
- Put tea, milk, and ice into a cocktail shaker. Shake 10 times.
- Pour entire contents of cocktail shaker into a cup.
Notes
- Starbucks uses 2% milk by default in all their lattes (tea and coffee), but you can use any milk you like.
- Royal English Breakfast tea is a blend of a black tea from India and a black tea from Africa. English Breakfast tea is a blend of black teas and every company creates a different blend. Once the tea is combined with milk and sugar, the black teas will pretty much all taste the same.
- This recipe replaces liquid cane sugar syrup with white sugar and turbinado sugar to give it the same flavor and sweetness, without having to use a syrup.
- The baristas at Starbucks handshake their tea lattes in a large plastic cocktail shaker, which is why it has that nice foamy layer on the top. If you don’t already have a cocktail shaker, you can use a large jar with a tight lid. Just make sure it is large enough to shake 16 ounces of liquid plus ice and some room for shaking.
- Use tea bags or tea sachets instead of loose tea for mess-free steeping. Since you’re adding milk and sugar, the tea quality doesn’t have to be the best.
- Customize this tea latte with cold foam. Top the drink with a homemade vanilla sweet cream cold foam since it pairs nicely with the English Breakfast tea.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
worked out great! i used a mug and a small plate to steep properly as i just moved and my teapots are still packed away. way better than starbucks and you can make it as sweet as you’d like.