Buying drinks from cafés is a guilty pleasure of ours, and one we share with many coffee drinkers — judging by the number of coffee shops popping up everywhere. Specialty drinks with fancy syrups and intricate recipes are just easier to buy out than they are to make at home. The problem is the cost adds up quickly and buying a five-dollar latte every day just is not in the cards for most people. However, we have good news.
Despite what you might think, some drinks – like the cinnamon dolce latte – are surprisingly easy to make at home for a fraction of the cost of buying one in your local coffee shop. Most of the cinnamon dolce latte’s magic comes from the cinnamon syrup, which is cheap and easy to make at home with only a few ingredients. In this article, we’ll teach you how to whip up a batch of cinnamon syrup you can use to make a cinnamon dolce latte or an iced cinnamon dolce latte.
What Is a Cinnamon Dolce Latte?
You can probably guess from the name that the cinnamon dolce latte’s coffee base is the traditional latte. Lattes are one of the milkiest espresso drinks, containing four parts milk to one part coffee. If you have an espresso machine at home, you can use that to make the coffee for a cinnamon dolce latte, but you can also use regular coffee and get reasonably similar results.
The sweetness that many people love about the cinnamon dolce latte comes from the cinnamon-infused syrup. Luckily, cinnamon syrup is very easy to make and hardly takes any more effort than making plain simple syrup. A major benefit of making your cinnamon dolce lattes is you control the balance of flavors. If you’re a cinnamon fiend, you can use more cinnamon, and if you only want a hint of cinnamon, you can dial it back. Experimenting with different amounts of cinnamon is fun and tasty.
Cinnamon Dolce Syrup Recipe
Let’s start with a recipe for cinnamon dolce syrup. We like to use a combination of white and brown sugar to create a syrup with more depth and layers of flavor. You can use all white sugar if you prefer. This recipe makes enough syrup for approximately four lattes, depending on how sweet you like your drinks.
- 3/4 cup white granulated sugar
- 1/4 cup light brown sugar
- 1/2 cup water
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- Combine the ingredients in a small saucepan over medium heat.
- Bring the mixture to a soft boil. Make sure to stir continuously.
- When the sugar is completely dissolved, and the mixture doesn’t look gritty, remove it from heat and let it cool to room temperature.
- Transfer the syrup to a sealable container and store it in the refrigerator.
Cinnamon Dolce Latte Recipe
Now that you have your cinnamon syrup, it is time to make a cinnamon dolce latte! The hardest part is making the syrup, so the remaining steps are simply to brew the coffee and prepare the milk.
- Make the coffee. If you have an espresso machine, you should use that. Otherwise, you can use regular coffee; just make it slightly stronger than you normally would.
- Measure the milk. We like to stick with the traditional 4:1 milk-to-coffee ratio for our cinnamon dolce latte. For a single shot of espresso, that means 4 ounces of milk.
- Combine the milk with about 1 tablespoon of cinnamon syrup in a small saucepan. Heat on medium while stirring continuously until the syrup and milk are well mixed.
- Combine the milk/syrup mixture with your coffee and serve!
You can add more or less syrup to taste. We recommend starting with one tablespoon and adjusting from there.
Iced Cinnamon Dolce Latte
If you prefer an iced version, you’ll need to make a few small adjustments so your cinnamon dolce latte doesn’t come out weak and watery. Our preferred method is to brew a double shot of espresso instead of a single shot. If you’re using regular coffee, make twice as much.
The other steps are the same until the end. After you combine your ingredients, pour slowly over a ½ cup of ice. It’s crucial to pour as slowly as possible to give your coffee a chance to cool. The slower you pour, the colder your coffee will be, and you’ll be able to enjoy it immediately. If you unceremoniously dump the entire coffee into a glass with ice at once, you’ll have to wait longer for the drink to cool before you can drink it.
Cinnamon Dolce Latte Recipe
Equipment
- Espresso maker (or coffee machine)
- Saucepan
- Spoon
- Airtight container
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup white granulated sugar
- 1/4 cup light brown sugar
- 1/2 cup water
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 2 shots espresso or 1/2 cup strong coffee
- 8 ounces milk any kind
Instructions
Make the cinnamon syrup.
- Combine the ingredients in a small saucepan over medium heat.
- Bring the mixture to a soft boil. Make sure to stir continuously.
- When the sugar is completely dissolved, and the mixture doesn’t look gritty, remove it from heat and let it cool to room temperature.
- Transfer the syrup to a sealable container and store it in the refrigerator.
Make the cinnamon dolce latte.
- Make the coffee. If you have an espresso machine, you should use that. Otherwise, you can use regular coffee; just make it slightly stronger than you normally would.
- Measure the milk. We like to stick with the traditional 4:1 milk-to-coffee ratio for our cinnamon dolce latte. For a single shot of espresso, that means 4 ounces of milk.
- Combine the milk with about 1 tablespoon of cinnamon syrup in a small saucepan. Heat on medium while stirring continuously until the syrup and milk are well mixed.
- Combine the milk/syrup mixture with your coffee and serve!
Nutrition
Final Thoughts
Part of the fun of making espresso drinks at home is the experimentation you can do. Cinnamon dolce lattes are easy to make without much effort but have many ways you can customize the drink to make it your own. We recommend starting with the recipe we presented here and then making adjustments to suit your taste better.
Cinnamon dolce syrup is very easy to make and can be used for other drinks and in other recipes that call for simple syrup. If you love cinnamon dolce lattes but don’t love how quickly the costs of buying them from cafés add up, give this recipe a try! It’s easy to make, easy to scale, and almost indistinguishable from the version you’d buy.
SEE ALSO:
- How to Make Coffee Syrups (Recipe & Pictures)
- How to Make Cinnamon Coffee (With Pictures)
- How to Make Cinnamon Milk (Recipe & Brewing Tips)
Featured Image Credit: Ekaterina Kondratova, Shutterstock
