Lavender Latte with Honey

Lightly sweet and delightfully floral, my Iced Honey Lavender Latte is a springtime delight! Making your own coffee shop-style beverages at home is an excellent form of self-care that’ll save you a boatload of cash. This tasty recipe is also quick & simple, using just 5 ingredients and a few minutes of active time to make.

⭐ Why You’ll Love This Recipe 

As the days grow ever longer, I find myself more in need of a caffeinating boost to get me through. Luckily, my Iced Honey Lavender Latte is a pleasure to sip and easy to make!

Honey and lavender are a delicious pairing, bursting with the flavors of spring. When mixed with creamy milk and the delicately sweet vanilla flavors of espresso, they add a layer of mellow complexity that’ll make you want to slurp this latte down with wild abandon.

If you’ve never made a latte at home, I can promise it’s much easier than you think. All you need is some finely ground espresso, high-quality honey, lavender, and your milk of choice. With just a few minutes of active time, you’ll have a delicious coffee drink that will transport you to a charming curbside café.

Perhaps the best part about this honey lavender latte? It’ll cost far less than the $5+ you can expect from a coffee shop drink! When you make lattes at home, you have all the power: choose organic beans, go caffeine-free, use alternative milk, and sweeten to your liking — all without any pesky $0.50 upcharges along the way. 

In fact, for the cost of about two splurgy coffee drinks, you can make enough honey lavender lattes to power you through several weeks, and even make a few trays of coffee ice cubes to save for later! Read on below to learn the secret to making your mornings a whole lot tastier.

🍴Ingredients

• Honey Syrup - While this might sound fancy, it’s really just equal parts honey and hot water. For the most delicious flavor, opt for locally sourced honey; most commercially available brands lose the nuanced, floral flavor during processing. It adds a hint of sweetness to your homemade local coffee shop dupe!

For more info on infusing simple syrups with flavors, check out my guide here!

• Lavender Buds - Pretty as a picture and tasty to boot, dried lavender buds are excellent for adding floral notes to everything from French macarons and sandwich cookies to muffins and cocktails. Just be sure to choose edible, food-grade buds. 
• Milk of Choice - Whether you like your lattes skinny or full-fat, made of oat milk or hemp milk, the choice is all yours.
• Espresso - Freshly pulled shots of espresso will give you the most satisfying flavor, but you can use instant espresso in a pinch or homemade cold brew.
• Ice - Be sure to use ice made from filtered water for the best taste.
• Lavender Sprig, for garnish - Okay, this is totally optional, but using a sprig of lavender or lavender flowers as garnish is SO DARN PRETTY! Go ahead and splurge; you’ll be still be saving money over a coffee shop drink.

⚒️ Equipment

• Espresso Maker - Contrary to prevailing opinion, you don’t need a several thousand dollar machine to make great espresso at home. If you have one, awesome! If not, you can get an affordable countertop version with a built-in milk frother for about $50, or a space-saving stovetop espresso maker for under $20.
• Milk Frother - While this is entirely optional (you can actually froth milk pretty well using a mason jar), these handy little machines make my morning coffee experience much more zen. Grab a stick model for under $10, or get fancy with one that can make hot or cold milk foam with the touch of a button for around $35.
• Squeeze Bottle - Also optional, I always suggest using squeeze bottles for any homemade syrup. They’re easy to store in the fridge, and they make measuring out small amounts a cleaner process. They’re also great for directing the stream if you want to soak a cake!

📖 Step by Step Instructions

This simple recipe for homemade lattes takes just about 5 minutes of active prep work. Here’s how it’s done:

Step 1: Honey Syrup - Add equal parts honey and hot water to a measuring cup with a spout. Mix until the honey is fully dissolved. 

Step 1: Lavender Milk - Warm your milk to a light simmer. Add the lavender buds and allow to infuse for 30-60 minutes. Strain with a fine mesh strainer, then chill the infused milk in the fridge until you’re ready to use it.

Step 4: Pull espresso shots from your espresso machine or grab some cold brew coffee. 

Step 4: Froth milk (optional), then add all ingredients to a glass filled with ice & serve!

⏲️ Substitutions & Variations

While I love these iced honey lavender lattes just as they are, there are plenty of ways to customize them to your liking. Here are some of my favorite variations:

• Hot - If you’re not an iced coffee person, make a hot latte instead! Word to the wise: the ideal temperature for frothing whole or almond milk is between 140-155F.
• Sparkling - Add a bit of fizz to your iced latte by topping it with 2 ounces of sparkling water. It might sound a little strange, but I think its a great addition! 
• Dairy-Free - The world of alt-milks is shockingly vast nowadays. Whether you use one of the various nut milks (e.g. almond, macadamia nut, or pistachio), flax milk, oat milk, or even the wilder sounding banana or potato (!!!) milk, the choice is all yours.
• Vegan - Choose a dairy-free milk alternative and swap the honey out for sugar, brown sugar, date syrup, or agave nectar.
• As a steamer - Laying off the caffeine but don’t love all the chemicals used in the decaffeination process? Turns out, a honey lavender steamer is a deliciously creamy treat.

👩🏻‍🍳 Expert Tips

• Local honey is better. Not only is the flavor of local honey more nuanced, there are a whole host of other reasons to buy local: you can support your local farmers; local honey has local pollens, which can help with seasonal allergies; and it can even be used as an anti-bacterial salve for wounds! Make a batch of honey lavender simple syrup would be a lovely addition - all you need is a small saucepan to make it for a burst of lavender flavor!
• Make-ahead for easy mornings. I don’t know about you, but I’m not much of a human before my first cup of joe. Make your mornings more streamlined by prepping your honey syrup and lavender-infused milk the night before. This allows the morning iced lavender latte to come together in moments!
• Certain milks froth better than others. I tend to prefer whole milk in my lattes, but 2% and even skim milk do a decent job of frothing. If you’re going the plant-based route, oat, soy, and coconut seem to have the best frothing power. Also, check for brands that have “barista” in the name; these are usually specially formulated for frothing due to the higher fat content.
• Froth sans frother. You don’t need a fancy piece of equipment to froth your milk. You can use a mason jar by leaving at least an inch or two of headroom and shaking it. You can also use an immersion blender, regular blender, whisk, or even your French press!

💭 Recipe FAQs

☕️ More Caffeinating Recipes

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