Starbucks Hack: Vietnamese Iced Coffee

Vietnamese iced coffee is one of the best ways to enjoy coffee.

If you are not close to a Vietnamese restaurant to get their authentic iced coffee, here is a Starbucks hack that comes pretty darn close. After a couple of runs to Starbucks and a bit of tweaking, I can confidently say that this tastes like a legit Vietnamese iced coffee.

To make this Vietnamese iced coffee at Starbucks, you need to order the following:

Iced quad espresso (that’s four shots of espresso) with three pumps of white chocolate mocha.

This Starbucks Vietnamese iced coffee hack costs $3.55 in my area. If it costs anymore than that, it’s most likely your barista is charging you for the individual shots and white chocolate mocha syrup pumps . We once had a barista charged me over $7 for this drink. Yeah … no. To eliminate the chance of being rung up incorrectly, it’s best to order through the mobile app.

I later found out that the pumps of white chocolate mocha are included in the fix price. Yep, that means you can ask for 50 pumps of white chocolate mocha syrup and it’d be the SAME PRICE (at least that was what I was told by the barista).

If you are trying this drink for the first time, I’d recommend starting off with two pumps of white chocolate mocha syrup. If it’s not sweet enough, then request another pump at no extra charge.

When I first had this drink, I was taken aback by the familiar taste. The white chocolate mocha syrup beautifully mimics the velvety consistency and sweetness of condensed milk. In fact, the Fontana white chocolate mocha syrups that Starbuck uses has sweetened condensed milk as one of the ingredients.

I would say that this is a 90% replication of a Vietnamese iced coffe. The Starbucks version lacks the nuttiness and aroma of a traditional Vietnamese iced coffee, making it much milder in flavor. This probably comes from the different coffee blends but hey I’m not complaining!

For those who have their own white chocolate mocha syrup stocked away in their Honda Odysessy center console box for emergencies, the iced quad espresso alone costs $2.95. You’re welcome.