Not unlike any other coffee syrup, this raspberry syrup is a fantastic and super simple way to flavor your coffee. It’s great in iced and hot coffee and in lemonade or iced tea so you can make it year-round!

Raspberry Syrup for…Coffee??

Raspberry might not sound like the most conventional syrup for coffee but it adds a bright and fruity flavor to your coffee that you never knew you needed in your life.

I tried raspberry-flavored coffee for the first time when Nespresso introduced a limited edition flavor developed by Pierre Hermé around Christmas 2022. And did I fall hard for raspberry coffee!

I went on to make raspberry syrup in the same way I made blackberry syrup a few years back: thick, rich, and utterly delicious.

Ingredients You’ll Need

As with most homemade coffee syrup recipes, you’ll need just a couple of ingredients. For this one, you only need three plus water (be sure to scroll down to the recipe card to view the amounts needed!):

• Raspberries
• Granulated sugar
• Vanilla extract – optional but highly recommended

Don’t Buy It! Make Raspberry Syrup at Home!

Don’t be fooled by recipes that say you can make a delicious raspberry syrup in under 10 minutes. To squeeze the most of out of your expensive raspberries, you’ll need about 50 minutes.

Most of this process is hands-off so you’ll have time to get some work done, do some laundry, change a diaper, or you know…do whatever quick thing you’ve been putting off all day.

Here’s what I do to make this syrup recipe:

STEP 1: Boil the sugar and water in a small saucepan over medium-high heat for 5 minutes.

STEP 2: Add the raspberries and vanilla extract. Let the berries steep in the hot syrup for 30 minutes. Smash them up after about 10 minutes; this will soften the berries and help to flavor the syrup.

STEP 3: Pour the syrup through a fine mesh sieve and press the berries to remove the seeds from the syrup.

STEP 4: Return the syrup to the pan and simmer for 15 minutes. This will boil off extra water and concentrate the liquid into a thick and boldly flavored syrup.

The Big Question: Can You Use Frozen Berries?

You certainly can! Berries are frozen at the peak of freshness so flavor-wise fresh and frozen berries taste very similar.

The only change you’ll need to make to this recipe if you use frozen raspberries is to add a few minutes to the second simmer time. This will ensure that you boil off the additional water that frozen berries contain.

Ways to Use Raspberry Syrup

If you don’t want to use this syrup for coffee, you can still use it in lots of other ways!

• Ice Cream: Over vanilla or chocolate ice cream
• Lattes: Raspberry syrup in hot lattes and iced lattes is absolutely amazing! Different than coffee because of the deep espresso flavor, raspberry brightens up lattes like no other fruit can.
• Cake: Drizzled over pound cake or lemon buttermilk loaf cake for elevated desserts.
• Pancakes or Waffles: In place of traditional maple syrup, raspberry syrup is amazing atop buttermilk pancakes, these sour cream pancakes, and yeasted waffles.
• Cheesecake: In place of strawberry topping, pour some of this syrup on top of your favorite – or my favorite! – cheesecake.
• Cold Drinks: Instead of blackberry lemonade, make raspberry lemonade! Or add some syrup to iced tea or plain sparkling water for a flavor boost.
• Cocktails: My Blackberry Gin Fizz is outstanding as is but make it a raspberry version instead! Or, how about a Raspberry Vodka Tonic?

More Raspberry Recipes

Got lots of raspberries on hand? Here are some of our favorite ways to use them up:

• Raspberry Peach Cobbler
• Mix raspberries into yogurt with crunchy granola
• Lemon Cupcakes with Raspberry Curd Filling
• Yogurt parfaits layered with fresh raspberries, chopped peaches, and granola
• Mini Lemon Curd Meringues