Pumpkin Spice Latte

5 from 10 votes

This Starbucks PSL copycat recipe shows how to make this drink at home in just 5 minutes.

Prep Time5

Total Time5

Course: Drinks

Cuisine: American

Servings: serving (16 ounces)

Author: Jee Choe, Certified Tea Sommelier

Whisk heavy cream and vanilla syrup to make whipped cream. Set aside.
The quickest and easiest way to make whipped cream for drinks is to use a handheld milk frother for about 30-50 seconds until you get soft peaks. Don’t overwhip.
¼ cup heavy cream, 1 tablespoon vanilla syrup
Froth or heat milk.
Frothed milk can be made using an electric milk frother, which will heat and froth the milk at the same time. Another method is to simmer milk on the stovetop, pour it into a French press, then pump the plunger a few times until it doubles in volume.
¾ cup milk
Put espresso and pumpkin spice sauce into a mug. Stir. Add frothed or heated milk.
3 tablespoons pumpkin spice sauce, 2 capsules Nespresso espresso
Top with whipped cream and garnish with a sprinkle of pumpkin spice topping.
Use a spoon to add the whipped cream on top of the drink.
pinch pumpkin spice topping

1 shot of espresso = 1 Nespresso espresso capsule
To make a 16 ounce (grande) Starbucks drink, you’ll need 2 Nespresso espresso or ristretto capsules. You can also use 1 Vertuo double espresso.
Instead of using the regular Starbucks espresso Nespresso capsule, try it with their Blonde espresso capsules, which are more popular and smoother in taste.
With the Vertuo machine capsules, only use espresso capsules and not the coffee capsules that make 7.77 ounces.
Vanilla syrup is used to sweeten and flavor the whipped cream, but you can replace it with regular simple syrup or 2 teaspoons of sugar if you don't have it.
Instead of using 2 Nespresso capsules, I like to make this drink with just 1 Nespresso capsule since I find 2 capsules to be too strong for me.

Homemade Pumpkin Spice Topping

½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
¼ teaspoon ground ginger
⅛ teaspoon ground nutmeg
⅛ teaspoon ground cloves