Starbucks Royal English Breakfast Tea Latte Copycat Recipe

Starbucks Royal English Breakfast Tea Latte

The Royal English Breakfast Tea Latte at Starbucks is a creamy black tea beverage that combines freshly brewed English Breakfast tea with sweetener and a thick layer of rich, steamed milk.

This caffeinated latte is brewed on the spot using Teavana Royal English Breakfast tea sachets filled with a blend of loose black tea.

You just need English Breakfast tea, milk and a sweetener to make a copycat version of this Starbucks recipe at home.

It’s what I call, easy-peasy!

Why You’ll Love this Recipe

• An English Breakfast Tea Latte is a warm and comforting drink. If you enjoy black tea with a splash of milk, this latte bumps up the tea flavor and creaminess factor!
• Once you see how easy it is to make a tea latte at home, you can switch things up and make other flavors like this Starbucks London Fog Tea Latte copycat made with earl grey tea bags.
• With black tea as its base, you can sweeten an English Breakfast tea latte with all sorts of flavored syrups. Vanilla syrup and cinnamon dolce syrup are good options.

Ingredients

• English Breakfast tea bags
• Hot Water
• Liquid Cane Sugar (or white sugar + turbinado sugar)
• Milk

English Breakfast Tea Bags: Starbucks makes this tea latte with Teavana brand Royal English Breakfast tea sachets. It’s a simple blend of two black teas—nothing more.

For this latte any English Breakfast tea blend will do.

Loose leaf tea may be used in place of the tea bags.

Hot Water: For the best tasting tea, always begin with filtered water. A Brita water filter pitcher is a great solution if you don’t already have filtered water.

Liquid Cane Sugar: Starbucks sweetens the Royal English Breakfast Tea Latte with liquid cane sugar.

This simple syrup is a mixture of white cane and turbinado sugars. The turbinado gives this tea sweetener a deeper molasses flavor.

For this tea latte recipe, you can either make homemade liquid cane sugar (it’s incredibly easy to do), buy a bottle of Sugar in the Raw Liquid Turbinado Cane Sugar, or just stir in a some spoonfuls of each sugar.

Milk: For the creamiest latte, I suggest using whole or 2% milk. (Two-percent is the standard at Starbucks.)

The protein in the dairy milk is what creates the velvety layer of microfoam when steaming the milk. (See below for a few at-home steaming methods.)

Step-by-Step Instructions

The key to making a delicious English Breakfast tea latte is to brew the black tea just right and steam the milk so it’s nice and velvety.

1. Put 2 English Breakfast tea bags and boiling hot water in a 14-16 ounce mug. Steep the tea for 5 minutes.
2. Steam the milk while the tea is brewing. The steaming process adds both air (for frothiness) and heat. Best practice is to bring the milk’s temperature to 160 °F.
3. Remove and discard the tea bags and stir in both sugars. If you have liquid cane syrup, use that in place of the white and turbinado sugars.
4. Pour the frothed milk and foam into the tea.

Detailed recipe and instructions are in recipe card at bottom of post.

Steep English Breakfast Tea

Make strong tea by using either 2 tea bags or 2 teaspoons of loose tea per cup of water.

The tea intensifies in color, flavor and caffeine as it steeps.

Sweeten the Tea

Sweeten English Breakfast tea with equal portions of turbinado cane sugar and white sugar or use liquid cane sugar like Starbucks. It’s turbinado sugar-based.

Pour in Frothed Milk

Finally, froth the milk and pour it and the foam into the latte.

Recipe Notes

For a decaf English Breakfast tea latte, substitute regular tea bags with decaf tea.

To make a dairy-free English Breakfast tea latte, use a plant-based milk in place of cow’s milk. Since the milk needs to be steamed, be sure to get the barista-edition which is designed to froth better.

If you enjoy iced English Breakfast tea lattes, multiply the tea concentrate portion of the recipe and keep the brewed tea in the refrigerator until ready to use.

To sweeten an English Breakfast latte like Starbucks, use 4 pumps (about 2 tablespoons) of liquid cane sugar syrup for a 16 ounce latte.

Here’s a fun recipe for an iced caramel English Breakfast tea latte.

Tips for Making the Best English Breakfast Tea Latte

Make a tea concentrate.

When making a tea latte, don’t skimp on the tea bags or add too much water.

The goal is to make a tea concentrate.

A latte has a lot of milk in it, so extra strong tea is needed in order for the flavor to stand out.

That’s why this tea latte recipe calls for double the amount of tea compared to a regular cup.

Steep the tea in boiled water.

English Breakfast tea is a blend of black teas and to bring out the flavor and caffeine, black tea must be brewed with boiled water.

Here are more of my tips for making black tea properly.

You can boil filtered water on the stove or use an electric kettle.

I use this Cuisinart electric kettle with temperature settings every day. This way I can bring the water to the recommended temperature for all types of tea.

Steam the milk to temperature.

Steaming milk does two jobs in one.

1. First it aerates the milk, creating that coveted layer of glossy microfoam.
2. Second it heats the milk up, bringing out its perceived sweetness.

Steam Wand Method: If you have an espresso machine with a steam wand, use it and a cheap milk thermometer to bring the milk to 160 °F.

The thermometer even has a green zone to indicate when the milk is done.

Electric Frother Method: My next favorite way to prepare latte milk is with an electric milk frother.

If you make a lot of hot, milky drinks, I always recommend the Breville Cafe Milk Frother.

It has a nice large cup so you can froth enough milk to make a latte or drinks like hot chocolate.

Unlike many other electric frothers, it comes with an aerating disc specifically for latte foam, an adjustable temperature setting dial.

Stove Method: A final option is to warm the milk on the stove and aerate it with a handheld frother or French press. Just be careful handling the hot milk.

Number of Tea Bags in Starbucks English Breakfast Tea Latte

Have you ever noticed that the number of tea bags in a regular hot tea at Starbucks is the same as a tea latte?

Short and tall sizes have one tea bag, and grande and venti get two.

Why is that, if the tea in a latte is supposed to be stronger?

In fact, the brewed tea for a latte is more concentrated, but it’s because it’s steeped in half the amount of water than a regular cup of hot tea.

Then, the rest of the drink is filled with syrup and steamed milk.

More Starbucks Tea Latte Recipes to Try

• Starbucks Iced Royal English Breakfast Tea Latte Copycat Recipe
• Starbucks London Fog Latte Copycat Recipe
• Starbucks Iced London Fog Tea Latte Copycat Recipe
• Starbucks Iced Chai Latte with Vanilla Sweet Cream Cold Foam
• Starbucks Iced Chai Latte with Matcha Cream Cold Foam

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