Pandan Latte, or Pandan Coffee, is a delicious blend of 2 aromatic flavors- pandan and coffee- and can be made using 3 simple ingredients in a matter of minutes!
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Why Make This
- Pandan Latte is deliciously fragrant: Also known as pandan coffee, these 2 popular flavors go together surprisingly well! Together with the foamy milky top, this flavored coffee drink is delicious!
- It's super quick and easy to make: Pandan Coffee comes together in a matter of minutes and needs no special equipment to make!
Note: For more Asian coffee recipes, click here.
Ingredients
You will need:
- strong coffee: I like to use Vietnamese coffee or espresso but also use instant coffee powder (½ Tablespoon mixed into ½ Cup of hot water.)
- milk: either whole milk or coconut milk are good choices for pandan coffee latte. However, you can also use another plant-based milk of your choice such as soy milk. I don't recommend oat milk- it's much too thin and the flavor doesn't complement pandan as well as coconut or soy!
- pandan syrup: you can easily make this by blending fresh pandan leaves in water then simmering in sugar. Click through for detailed step-by-step instructions. The leftover pulp can be kept to cold-brew coffee for the next day! I don't recommend dried pandan as it's not as fragrant. (There's also pandan powder which I've not tried before.)
For the full list of ingredients, please see the recipe card.
Where to Buy
You can get pandan leaves, usually frozen, (and Vietnamese coffee) at Asian grocery stores.
Variations & Substitutes
- Pandan Coconut Latte: Froth ¼ Cup of milk with ¾ tablespoon of pandan syup (Optional: add ¼ teaspoon of pandan paste for extra color.) Pour the green foam into ½ Cup of coconut water followed by ¼ Cup of strong coffee (or 1 shot of espresso.)
Step-by-Step Instructions
- Gently heat the milk over a low fire till steaming. This helps the milk to froth more easily. (See here for more methods on how to froth milk.)
- Once the milk is almost steaming, switch off the fire then add the pandan simple syrup.
3. If using, add a few drops of pandan paste.
4. Whisk vigorously till a stable, thick foam appears.
5. Transfer the pandan latte to a heat-proof mug.
6. Pour in your coffee or espresso. Serve with some pandan kueh dadar on the side!
How to Store
Expert Tips
Tip #1: For pandan cold-brew coffee, simply soak pandan pulp (leftover from making pandan juice and pandan extract) with coffee grounds overnight. (Very sustainable!)
Tip #2: If you want a stronger green color, you'll need to add a drop of pandan paste into your pandan foam. (Natural pandan coloring is quite a light green.)
Recipe FAQs
No, Pandan is a plant whose leaves are used in South East Asian cooking (does not contain caffeinate) whilst Matcha is a Japanese tea (caffeinated). Pandan is inexpensive in Asia whilst Matcha is pricey everywhere! Other than the fact that they're both Asian, green and aromatic, they have nothing in common! Click here for a Starbucks copycat Matcha Latte or here for some Matcha recipes for beginners.
Other Recipes
Enjoyed this aromatic and easy Pandan Coffee Recipe? Please leave a 5-star 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟rating in the recipe card below & if you REALLY liked this frothy Pandan Latte, a comment would make my week! Thank you and have a great day!
Pandan Latte
Equipment
- Pot and heat-proof whisk
- Heat-proof mug
Ingredients
- 1 Cup Whole Milk Substitute: coconut milk, coconut cream mixed with water in a 1:3 ratio or soy milk. I don't recommend using oat milk.
- 1- 1½ Tablespoons Pandan Syrup For directions on making your own natural pandan syrup, click through this link. Pandan syrup already contains sugar so I don't feel the Pandan Latte needs anymore sweetener but feel free to add to taste. For how to sweeten without adding sugar, click here.
- 1 shot espresso Substitute: ½ Tablespoon of instant coffee powder mixed with ½ Cup of hot water
- ¼-½ teaspoon Pandan Paste Optional- this is necessary if you want the vibrant green color. Pandan syrup on its own is too light of a green to change the color of the milk noticeably.
Instructions
- Gently heat the milk over a low fire till steaming. This helps the milk to froth more easily.
- Once the milk is almost steaming, switch off the fire then add the pandan syrup and, if using, pandan paste.
- Whisk vigorously till a stable, thick foam appears.
- Transfer the pandan latte to a heat-proof mug. Pour in your coffee or espresso.
- Serve and enjoy with some pandan kueh on the side!
Notes
Nutrition
If you've found this Pandan Coffee Latte recipe useful, do let me know in the comments!
Wren says
Made this over the weekend and it was so yummy! Couldn’t Believe how simple it was
Zen says
So happy you enjoyed it Wren, are you a big pandan fan? (I am!)