DIY Starbucks Iced Mocha – make 15 for the price of 1 – Budget Recipes – 68 cents for a dupe Starbucks Grande Iced Mocha, Including the Cup and Lid

• Recipe right at the top! Scroll down for tips.

DIY Starbucks Iced Mocha

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Budget Recipe Breakdown for DIY Starbucks Iced Mocha

• $0.56 Espresso, 2 oz ground espresso brewed with 30 oz water, Cafe La Llave Check price on Amazon.
• $0.49 Hershey’s cocoa powder, 0.8 oz, $4.98 for 8 oz, Winco. Check Amazon price for Hershey’s cocoa powder (typically very expensive on Amazon).
• $0.10 Vanilla, Baker’s imitation vanilla, $1.67 for 8 oz, Walmart. Check Amazon price for vanilla.
• $5.14 Heavy whipping cream, $5.48 per quart, Winco.
• $1.65 Hershey’s Simply 5 chocolate syrup, $0.22 per oz, $4.85 per 21.8 oz, Winco. Check Amazon price for Hershey’s Simply 5 chocolate syrup.
• Total for 15 iced mochas: $7.94.
• 53 cents per iced mocha. Add a fancy clear cup and sip lid (see below), and you’re at 68 cents per iced mocha.
• Starbucks grande iced mocha in Phoenix costs $5.75, $6.34 with 10.2% restaurant/prepared food sales tax in Phoenix suburb Glendale, AZ, and $7.34 with a dollar tip. (Yes, tipping is stupid at Starbucks but you know you’re a sucker.)
• For the price and time of ONE Starbucks iced mocha, you can make FIFTEEN iced mochas at home, with better ingredients.
• Now, this is reportedly a half portion of a typical Starbucks Grande iced drink (see below), but nobody needs a 600 calorie coffee drink (a double portion has a half cup of heavy cream and a quarter cup of chocolate syrup), so please do use my tip of filling your 16 oz cup to the top with crushed ice. This is what most restaurants and bars do to make sure:
  • 1. your drink is served very cold, and
  • 2. they give you less product for more money.

DIY Starbucks Iced Mocha Recipe Notes and Tips:

• I’m not willing to pay $6.34 to test how much ice vs. liquid is in a Starbucks Iced Mocha, but I found lots of tests on the internet, and it seems that you usually get 10 oz of liquid in a 16 oz grande cup for iced coffee drinks at Starbucks. So if you want 10 oz of liquid, just reduce the ice and double your cost by using 10 oz of the iced mocha mixture. You’re still at $1.06 per drink making your own iced mocha at home.
• I started making these for my teen daughter, who likes to waste her money on Starbucks, Dutch Bros, etc. on the way to work. To make these DIY iced mochas seem like a fancy coffee shop drink, I also bought clear plastic cups and sip lids. Apparently flat lids with straws are not as cool.
  • $4.67 Smart & Final for 50 16 oz clear cups, plus 8.6% sales tax (Phoenix) = $5.07 for 50, 10 cents each.
  • $4.75 Smart & Final for 100 sip lids, plus 8.6% sales tax (Phoenix) = $5.16 for 100, 5 cents each.
  • This was the price after a 15% discount I got for signing up for Smart & Final’s digital coupons.
  • Check Amazon price for 16 oz clear cups, and sip lids.
  • If you don’t like plastic (we know: you’re the reason I don’t allow blog comments, and we also know you’re a vegan, because that’s all you talk about, but we don’t give a crap: more meat for us), you can portion the coffee into mason jars. Check Amazon price for 16 oz mason jars and mason jar straw lids.
  • If you add a fancy clear plastic cup and sip lid (15 cents) to a double iced mocha ($1.06), you’ll spend $1.21 for a dupe Starbucks grande Iced Mocha.
• I don’t like sweet drinks, so I keep the coffee & cocoa mixture separate from the cream & chocolate syrup mixture. That way, I can just add a splash of cream to the coffee & cocoa mixture to make an unsweetened iced mocha, and my husband and daughter can mix their own sweet iced mochas.
• If you don’t have a 3 quart glass or stainless steel pitcher (2 quarts is too small for a full batch of the iced mocha recipe, which is 69 oz), you can mix the hot coffee and cocoa powder in a glass measuring cup until it has chilled, then mix the whole recipe in a large plastic pitcher, to avoid putting hot coffee into a plastic pitcher.
  • Check Amazon price on 4 cup Pyrex measuring cup.
  • Check Amazon price on dripless 3 quart stainless steel pitcher.
  • Check Amazon price on 3 quart glass pitcher with lid.
• Beware “Costco Syndrome”: Having 15 iced mochas ready to go in your fridge might make you drink a lot more than you’d normally buy. Go over your habits and receipts to determine how many iced mochas you normally buy per week. Is the answer reasonable to you? Would you rather drink more iced mochas, but they cost too much at the coffee shop? Or are you drinking too many empty calories, and would like to cut down? Make the right amount for you. Here’s the formula per 10 oz (double/grande):
  • 4 oz strong brewed coffee
  • 1 tsp. Hershey’s cocoa powder
  • 1/8 tsp vanilla
  • 2 oz Hershey’s Simply 5 chocolate syrup
  • 4 oz heavy whipping cream. Yep, that’s a half cup of heavy whipping cream. But if you make an iced mocha with milk (or, heaven forbid, fake milk like almond/soy/oat, it won’t taste good.

Earn a $300 statement credit when you spend $3,000 in 6 months on a new American Express Blue Cash Preferred credit card: Apply for an American Express Card with my link for the $300 bonus here. Amex Blue Cash Preferred gives you 6% cashback at the grocery store, and 3% cashback on gas.