Enjoying a creamy iced latte or cold brew — whether on weekends or during the commute — is a treat many of us find hard to resist. From seasonal trends like the fluffy seagull latte to classic favorites such as a chocolate-infused mocha, coffee shops excel at crafting more elaborate drinks that we rarely make at home. However, when all those tempting and costly coffees start to add up, it’s surprisingly easy to make these caffeinated treats yourself, and there’s one grocery store that can help.
As a coffee creator with 2.9 million followers on TikTok and co-founder of Flur, a coffee glassware brand, Ethan Rode (@ethanrodecoffee) is a pro at recreating coffee trends at home, experimenting with flavored syrups, and making exciting coffee drinks using pantry ingredients. And the coffee creator often turns to Trader Joe’s to help him whip up coffee shop-level drinks in his own kitchen.
Rode tells Food & Wine that “Trader Joe’s has everything you need… but what really makes it fun is that [it] keeps changing things up — one month it might be pumpkin butter, the next month sugar cookie oat creamer.” This creator’s content is proof that once you’ve perfected your at-home coffee routine, you might even prefer it over cafe-sourced options. But first, you’ll want to know exactly what to stock up on, and starting with Rode’s top five coffee essentials from Trader Joe’s is a great place to begin.
Bourbon Vanilla Bean Paste
For Rode, this “versatile and affordable” product is a must-buy for your coffee creations. The Bourbon Vanilla Bean Paste is made with 100% bourbon vanilla beans — a specific species of vanilla bean, not related to whiskey — by a supplier in Mauritius and has a thicker, richer texture than vanilla extract. By simmering sugar, water, and two tablespoons of the Trader Joe’s vanilla bean paste together, Rode makes an easy, homemade vanilla syrup, and he uses the paste to create vanilla cold foams for topping his iced coffees.
Fleur de Sel Caramel Sauce
If you’re often tempted to skip your at-home coffee routine to get a caramel latte from a cafe, Rode suggests that you can simply grab the Fleur de Sel Caramel Sauce from Trader Joe’s instead. The caramel sauce has a hint of vanilla extract, giving it an extra depth of flavor, as well as sea salt to balance the sweetness. “This caramel sauce, a banana, and some salt are a game-changer with coffee,” the creator emphasizes.
Cold Brew Concentrate
Made from 100% Arabica coffee beans, the Cold Brew Concentrate from Trader Joe’s impresses Rode with its versatility, as “it doubles as cold brew and as a substitute for espresso in cocktails or lattes.” The coffee creator recommends adding less milk or water than the instructions on the packaging suggest and advises using this concentrate as a substitute for espresso when making cold coffee drinks like a brown sugar shaken espresso. As an added bonus, each bottle contains 12 servings for a total of $8.99, or about $0.75 per drink.
Brown Sugar Non-Dairy Oat Creamer
Rode isn’t usually a fan of oat milks, but he really enjoys the Brown Sugar Non-Dairy Oat Creamer from Trader Joe’s. The store describes the product as having a noticeable brown sugar flavor without the sweetness being too overpowering. According to Rode, the brown sugar-flavored oat creamer is “consistently available” at the grocery store, and he adds that “seasonal varieties like gingerbread or sugar cookie [oat creamers] are worth grabbing for holiday lattes.”
Seasonal Butter Spreads
Trader Joe’s “butter spreads” — sweet, flavored spreads similar to Nutella — rotate seasonally with new flavors like pumpkin, cookie butter, maple, and more, making appearances on shelves throughout the year. Rode details that “butter spreads aren’t always thought of as coffee products, but they make phenomenal latte mix-ins.”
The Speculoos Cookie Butter is currently available in stores and can be used to make a Biscoff cookie-flavored iced coffee. Once the Pumpkin Butter returns to stores, Rode recommends adding a spoonful of it to a mixture of cold brew and oat milk “to create a delicious fall latte at home.” And when you have an empty container of any of Trader Joe’s seasonal butters, Rode advises adding hot espresso into the jar and shaking it up to use up the sweet remnants. “It flavors your latte, and you waste nothing,” he notes.
