Use sauce, not hard caramel

A pourable dessert sauce works well here because the small amount of hot coffee can loosen it. Hard caramel sweets are less predictable: they may not melt completely in the coffee and can contain ingredients that make the cold drink grainy. This recipe deliberately avoids making hot caramel from scratch for a single glass.

Check the sauce's label before adding salt. Some salted caramel products are already assertively salty, and the espresso brings its own bitterness. The tiny pinch is optional, not an instruction to make the drink taste savoury. Add it only after the caramel has dispersed so you are judging the whole mixture.

Skip the heavy glass decoration

A thick ring of sauce on a cold glass looks appealing but often stays attached to the wall instead of flavouring the drink evenly. Stirring the measured sauce into warm coffee gives a more consistent result from first sip to last. It also makes the sweetness easier to reproduce next time.

Choose a caramel you enjoy by itself. Some sauces lean towards burnt sugar, others towards toffee or condensed milk, and those differences remain in the finished latte. The milk quantity can be adjusted by a tablespoon after mixing, but adding more sauce should be a deliberate flavour decision rather than a way to cover weak coffee.

What you'll need

  • 60 ml freshly brewed espresso
  • 1 tbsp ready-made caramel sauce
  • 1 tiny pinch fine salt, only if the sauce is unsalted
  • 150 ml cold milk
  • 100 g ice cubes

Let's make it

  1. Stir the caramel sauce into the hot espresso until no thick streaks remain. Taste a cooled drop before adding salt; a salted caramel sauce may need none.
  2. Set the coffee cup in a shallow bowl of cold water for about 15 minutes, keeping the water outside the cup. Stir occasionally to help it cool evenly.
  3. Put the ice in a glass, add the milk and pour in the cooled caramel coffee. Stir well and serve. If a little sauce remains at the bottom of the cup, loosen it with a spoonful of the measured milk rather than adding another full spoon of sauce.

Make it your own

Use decaffeinated espresso for the same style of drink.

A dairy-free caramel and plant drink can replace both dairy components, but check the sauce carefully: many caramel sauces contain butter or cream.

Keeping it fresh

Make the latte for immediate drinking. Refrigerate the opened caramel sauce exactly as its label directs. Do not pour unused coffee-and-milk mixture back into the sauce jar.

Allergen notes

Contains milk in the standard recipe and often in the caramel sauce. Check additional allergens and precautionary statements on the sauce.