Creamy frothed milk and sweetened English Breakfast tea are in this tasty copycat Starbucks tea latte that’s easy to make at home.
Recipe Highlights
- Starbucks Royal English Breakfast Tea Latte is a sweetened hot tea with frothed milk. It’s rich, bold, and creamy.
- Frothed milk can easily be made at home using an electric milk frother or with a simple French press.
- This recipe makes a 16 ounce hot English Breakfast tea latte, which is a grande at Starbucks.
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Ingredient Notes
- Royal English Breakfast tea
Starbucks uses Teavana Royal English Breakfast tea but it’s hard to find without paying a premium. Instead, use any Royal English Breakfast tea or English Breakfast tea. - 2% milk
All lattes at Starbucks is made with 2% milk unless by default, but you can use any milk you like. Dairy milk with some fat will froth up the best. - White sugar
This recipe uses both granulated white sugar and turbinado sugar to match the flavor from liquid cane sugar used in the Starbucks drink. - Turbinado sugar
Turbinado has a molasses flavor that adds a richness to the drink. - Water
Use filtered water, if you can, for a better tasting tea.
Step-by-Step Instructions
For full ingredients and instructions, scroll down to see the recipe.
- 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. - Froth milk.
Frothed milk can be made using an electric milk frother or by simmering milk on the stovetop, then pouring it into a French press, then pumping the plunger a few times. - Pour hot tea into a cup and stir in sugars.
- Add frothed milk.
Photo Credit: amazon.com
Recipe Notes
Use tea bags or sachets instead of loose tea.
Tea bags and tea sachets make cleanup easier since you don’t need a separate strainer. Higher quality (and more expensive) loose tea isn’t necessary when you’re adding so much milk and sugar.
Any black tea can be used if you don’t have Royal English Breakfast tea.
Royal English Breakfast tea is a blend of black teas so you can use any unflavored black tea. Unless you’re a highly trained tea professional, you probably won’t be able to taste the difference.
Turbinado and white sugar make Starbucks liquid cane sugar syrup.
The syrup that’s added to this drink is Starbucks liquid cane sugar, which is a combo of turbinado sugar and white sugar. You can use just turbinado sugar or white sugar if you want to simplify the recipe.
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Expert Tips
- When heating milk on the stovetop to froth using a French press, make sure milk doesn’t come to a full boil since it can easily burn. Just bring milk to a simmer.
- When using a French press to froth milk, be sure to fill it so that the filter reaches the milk but not overfilled. The milk volume will almost double after you pump air into it.
- Customize this drink by replacing the sugars with a flavored syrup, like cinnamon syrup or lavender syrup.
- Make it even more delicious with homemade whipped cream! Whisk ¼ cup heavy cream and 2 teaspoons white sugar using a handheld milk frother to make whipped cream in seconds.
Questions You May Have
Yes, since English Breakfast tea is a black tea, this drink contains caffeine. A grande size (16 ounces) of Royal English Breakfast Tea Latte at Starbucks has about 40 mg of caffeine.
Yes. If you use decaf English Breakfast tea, then the drink will be decaffeinated. There is always a small amount of caffeine in decaf tea, but it’s more like 2 mg versus 40 mg in the same size drink.
There is 1 Royal English Breakfast tea bag in a short and tall. There are 2 tea bags in a grande and a venti.
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- 23 Popular Starbucks Secret Tea Menu Drinks
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Starbucks Royal English Breakfast Tea Latte Copycat
INGREDIENTS
- 2 English Breakfast tea bags
- 1 cup hot water
- 2 teaspoons white sugar
- 2 teaspoons turbinado sugar
- ⅔ cup 2% milk
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 the water temperature to 208°F when using the electric kettle. Once steeped, discard the tea bags.
- Froth milk.Frothed milk can be made using an electric milk frother or by simmering milk on the stovetop, then pouring it into a French press, then pumping the plunger a few times.
- Pour hot tea into a cup and stir in sugars. Add frothed milk.
EQUIPMENT
NOTES
- Starbucks uses Teavana Royal English Breakfast tea but it’s hard to find without paying a premium. Instead, use any Royal English Breakfast tea or English Breakfast tea.
- All lattes at Starbucks is made with 2% milk unless by default, but you can use any milk you like. Dairy milk with some fat will froth up the best.
- This recipe uses both granulated white sugar and turbinado sugar to match the flavor from liquid cane sugar used in the Starbucks drink.
- Tea bags and tea sachets make cleanup easier since you don’t need a separate strainer. Higher quality (and more expensive) loose tea isn’t necessary when you’re adding so much milk and sugar.
- Royal English Breakfast tea is a blend of black teas so you can use any unflavored black tea. Unless you’re a highly trained tea professional, you probably won’t be able to taste the difference.
- The syrup that’s added to this drink is Starbucks liquid cane sugar, which is a combo of turbinado sugar and white sugar. You can use just turbinado sugar or white sugar if you want to simplify the recipe.
- When heating milk on the stovetop to froth using a French press, make sure milk doesn’t come to a full boil since it can easily burn. Just bring milk to a simmer.
- When using a French press to froth milk, be sure to fill it so that the filter reaches the milk but not overfilled. The milk volume will almost double after you pump air into it.
- Customize this drink by replacing the sugars with a flavored syrup, like cinnamon syrup or lavender syrup.
- Make it even more delicious with homemade whipped cream! Whisk ¼ cup heavy cream and 2 teaspoons white sugar using a handheld milk frother to make whipped cream in seconds.