About 5 years ago I had a drink that changed my life: a nitro cold brew coffee float. I’d never thought about pairing coffee with ice cream, but given my affinity for root beer floats, it’s a shame I hadn’t come up with the idea sooner.
In fact, the drink was so good, we ordered it a few more times before they summer ended and they discontinued it in favor of fall drinks.
I’ve never forgotten that drink and it definitely took me way too long to recreate it. Now that I know how unbelievably easy and delicious it is – I won’t be going another 5 years before I make it again.
So, if you’ve ever been interested in trying out a coffee ice cream float – buckle your seat belts, because once you read this post, you’ll be off to the store to get what you need to make your own.
Vanilla Sweet Cream Coffee Float: Ingredients
Would you believe me if I told you that you only need 2 ingredients? I added toppings, which takes the list to just 4 ingredients, but really, those are optional.
- Cold Brew Coffee – You have options here. I used canned Starbucks Vanilla Sweet Cream Nitro Cold Brew for this, because nitro cold brew is super smooth and I love the Vanilla Sweet Cream Cold Brew drink. You could use any type of cold brew, iced coffee, nitro cold brew or concentrated coffee added to water (such as Jot) to make this float. Use the coffee YOU like here. I would NOT use hot coffee or it will melt the ice cream.
- Ice Cream – I used Clover Vanilla Bean ice cream to get a similar taste to the one I had all those years ago. I think this would work out well with almost any flavor of ice cream.
- Whipped Cream – Why not? Let’s go all out here, friends.
- Drizzle – Yes, please. I used Torani Dark Chocolate Syrup. Use what you have. Use nothing at all. The sky is the limit. This would be great with caramel syrup, chocolate shavings, sprinkles, you name it. You could set up a little coffee float bar for a party with lots of options and let people make their own.
Supplies:
All you need for this is a nice tall glass. I used these 22 oz. beer glasses from Crate & Barrel and it worked out perfectly. Use what you have. Scale the recipe to the size of your glasses.
Add a straw and a spoon to get that real ice cream float feeling.
*Affiliate links are used here for products I bought myself. If you choose to make a purchase through my links, I may receive a commission at no cost to you. Cheers!
How To Make a Coffee Float:
This is easy, easy, easy. Dare I say: foolproof? I think so. I made a little video of me making it on Instagram and it really lit up the app. Plenty of people thought the same thing as me: yeah, I want that. Check it out:
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Coffee Float: Step-by-Step Instructions
- Add ice cream scoops almost to the top of your glass size. For me, that was 4 scoops.
- Use any type of cold brew, canned nitro cold brew, etc. I used this one. Add until it covers the coffee. That’s about exactly one can of the nitro cold brew.
- Add whipped topping if you like.
- Add toppings like drizzle, sprinkles, chocolate shavings, etc.
- Add straw and spoon and enjoy!
I told you this was going to be easy!
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Have you ever made a coffee float before? I’d love to hear what you think. Comment on my Instagram video with how it went!
Get roasted,
A
