What Syrups Does Dutch Bros Use? (And What to Buy at Home)
Search this question and you will get the same three-word answer everywhere: Dutch Bros uses Torani. It is the kind of answer that gets copied from one blog to the next until nobody checks it, and it sends people home with the wrong bottle.
The reality is messier and more useful. Dutch Bros pulls from several syrup brands depending on the flavor, and matching the right brand to the right drink is what separates a copycat that tastes close from one that tastes almost right but not quite.
Quick answer: Dutch Bros uses a mix of brands rather than a single supplier. Reporting from Tasting Table indicates Monin covers basics like vanilla, caramel, and hazelnut, Torani covers flavors including cinnamon and chocolate macadamia nut, and DaVinci Gourmet covers fruit flavors like blueberry and mango.
All three are sold at grocery stores and online, and all use cane sugar rather than high fructose corn syrup.
Why “Just Buy Torani” Is Incomplete Advice
Torani is the most visible brand in the Dutch Bros conversation, and there is a reason for that. It is the easiest of the three to find in American grocery stores, and it does supply some of the flavors Dutch Bros is known for. Chocolate macadamia nut, the syrup that defines the Annihilator, is a Torani product and is not something Monin makes.
But the flavors most people order daily tell a different story. Vanilla, caramel, and hazelnut come from Monin. Fruit flavors that show up in Rebels and lemonades come from DaVinci Gourmet.
If you build a Golden Eagle with Torani vanilla when the original uses Monin, you will get something close but slightly off, and you will spend an afternoon adjusting ratios trying to fix a problem that is not about ratios.
One thing every source agrees on: Dutch Bros does not sell its syrup bottles to customers. There is no official retail version. Everything below is about buying the same commercial products the chain buys.
Syrup Versus Sauce, and Why It Matters
This trips up more copycat attempts than brand choice does.
Syrups are thin and sugar-based. They dissolve instantly into hot or cold liquid and carry flavor without body. Vanilla, hazelnut, Irish cream, and most fruit flavors are syrups.
Sauces are thick and usually contain dairy or cocoa solids. They add body and cling to the inside of the cup. Caramel sauce and chocolate sauce are sauces, not syrups, and they are not interchangeable with the syrup versions of the same flavor.
A Golden Eagle uses caramel sauce plus vanilla syrup. Substitute caramel syrup for the sauce and the drink comes out thin and one-dimensional, missing the texture that makes it recognizable. Recipes that just say “caramel” are the reason this goes wrong so often.
Brand Breakdown
| Brand | Reported Dutch Bros Flavors | Character | Where to Find It |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monin | Vanilla, caramel, hazelnut | Cleaner and less sweet, French-made, non-GMO ingredients | Restaurant supply, online, some grocery |
| Torani | Cinnamon, chocolate macadamia nut, Irish cream | Bolder and sweeter, widest US availability | Most grocery stores, Walmart, online |
| DaVinci Gourmet | Blueberry, mango, other fruit flavors | Fruit-forward, strong sugar-free line | Online, restaurant supply |
If you are buying one bottle to start, make it Torani chocolate macadamia nut. It is the flavor with no substitute, it defines a signature drink, and no other brand makes a close equivalent. Vanilla and caramel you can approximate; that one you cannot.
What Goes Into Each Signature Drink
This is the part worth bookmarking. Dutch Bros does not publish its recipes, so the pairings below come from the flavor descriptions the chain gives for each drink combined with what its broistas and long-time customers consistently report.
| Drink | Flavor Components | What to Buy |
|---|---|---|
| Annihilator | Chocolate macadamia nut | Torani chocolate macadamia nut syrup |
| Golden Eagle | Caramel sauce and vanilla | Caramel sauce plus Monin vanilla syrup |
| Caramelizer | Caramel sauce and chocolate milk | Caramel sauce plus chocolate milk |
| Kicker | Irish cream | Torani or Monin Irish cream syrup |
| 911 | Irish cream | Same as the Kicker, more espresso |
| Cocomo | Coconut and chocolate | Coconut syrup plus chocolate milk |
| White Chocolate drinks | White chocolate sauce | White chocolate sauce, not syrup |
| Horchata Chai | Horchata (cinnamon and vanilla) | Cinnamon plus vanilla syrup, or horchata syrup |
| Banana Bread Latte | Banana and hazelnut | Banana syrup plus Monin hazelnut |
The Banana Bread Latte is a good illustration of why the pairing matters more than the individual flavor. Banana on its own reads as artificial candy. The hazelnut is what turns it into something that tastes baked. Our breakdown of the Dutch Bros banana syrup goes deeper on which drinks it actually works in.
Full recipes for several of these are already built out: the Golden Eagle, the Caramelizer, the Kicker, and the 911.
Vanilla Syrup, 2-Pack
Vanilla shows up in more Dutch Bros drinks than any other flavor, and it doubles as the base you build other combinations on. If you buy one bottle to start, this is it.
- Used in the Golden Eagle, Horchata Chai, and most custom orders
- Pairs with caramel sauce, cinnamon, or hazelnut to build other drinks
- Two bottles last a long time at one ounce per drink
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How Much Syrup to Actually Use
Buying the right bottle solves half the problem. The other half is quantity, and this is where homemade versions usually go wrong in the opposite direction from what people expect.
Dutch Bros is widely reported to use roughly one ounce of total flavoring per coffee drink, and to keep that amount the same across sizes rather than scaling it up. If that holds, two consequences follow that most home recipes get backwards.
A small tastes sweeter than a large. The same ounce of syrup spread through more milk reads as less sweet. If you have been copying a large and wondering why yours is cloying, you may be using a small’s worth of syrup in a small cup.
Two flavors means splitting the ounce, not doubling it. Ordering vanilla and caramel does not get you an ounce of each. It gets you half an ounce of each. Home recipes that call for two full tablespoons of two different syrups overshoot the original by a wide margin.
A practical starting point: two tablespoons of total syrup for a 16-ounce drink, split across however many flavors the drink uses. Adjust from there. It will taste less sweet than you expect for the first few days, which is usually a sign you are closer to the original than the recipe you were following.
Sugar-Free Options
All three brands make sugar-free lines, and Dutch Bros carries sugar-free versions of its most common flavors. These are typically sweetened with sucralose rather than sugar.
Two things to know before switching. Sugar-free syrups are thinner than their full-sugar counterparts, so they carry flavor but not body, and a drink built entirely on them can taste hollow. And sugar-free caramel comes as a sauce in some lines and a syrup in others, which brings back the texture problem from earlier in this post.
The bigger lever is usually the base rather than the syrup. Half-and-half in a breve carries far more calories than the ounce of syrup does. If sugar and calories are the goal, our Dutch Bros sugar-free menu and low-calorie drinks guides cover which drinks respond best to substitution.
What You Cannot Buy
Being honest about the ceiling here saves people money.
The chocolate milk. Dutch Bros uses a thick, dairy-forward chocolate milk sourced regionally rather than a single national brand, and it is a bigger part of the Caramelizer and Cocomo than the syrup is. Dutch-style chocolate milk from the grocery store gets you close; nothing gets you exact.
The espresso. Private Reserve is sold in bags for drip brewing, but the shots at the stand are pulled ristretto-style from a medium roast, which is a technique difference rather than a product you can buy. Our guide to Dutch Bros espresso covers the blend, and if you do not own a machine, the substitution chart for making Dutch Bros drinks without an espresso machine handles the workaround.
The Soft Top. A sweetened cold foam rather than whipped cream, and one of the most-missed details in home copycats. The DIY Soft Top recipe gets close with a frother and three ingredients.
A Starter Kit That Covers the Most Drinks
Four bottles will get you the majority of the coffee menu:
- Monin vanilla. Appears in more drinks than anything else, and works as a base for building others.
- Caramel sauce. Not syrup. Covers the Golden Eagle and Caramelizer, the two most-requested copycats.
- Torani chocolate macadamia nut. The Annihilator, with no substitute available.
- Irish cream syrup. Torani or Monin. Covers the Kicker and the 911.
Add chocolate milk and half-and-half and you can build most of the classics. Fruit syrups for Rebels and lemonades are a separate purchase and worth deferring until you know you will use them, since fruit flavors get used far less often than coffee flavors and the bottles are large.
For a few drinks to try first, the three easiest Dutch Bros copycats use nothing beyond this list.
Frequently Asked Questions
What brand of syrup does Dutch Bros use?
More than one. Reporting indicates Monin supplies basics like vanilla, caramel, and hazelnut, Torani supplies flavors including cinnamon and chocolate macadamia nut, and DaVinci Gourmet supplies fruit flavors. The common claim that Dutch Bros uses only Torani appears to be an oversimplification.
Can I buy Dutch Bros syrup?
Not from Dutch Bros. The chain does not sell its syrup bottles to customers. You can buy the same commercial Torani, Monin, and DaVinci products at grocery stores, restaurant supply shops, and online.
Does Dutch Bros use high fructose corn syrup?
No. The full-sugar syrups it uses are sweetened with cane sugar. Sugar-free versions are typically sweetened with sucralose.
What syrup is in the Annihilator?
Chocolate macadamia nut, a Torani product. It is the one Dutch Bros flavor with no close equivalent from another brand.
What syrup is in a Golden Eagle?
Caramel sauce and vanilla syrup. The caramel is a sauce rather than a syrup, which is what gives the drink its body. Using caramel syrup instead produces a noticeably thinner result.
What is the difference between syrup and sauce at Dutch Bros?
Syrups are thin and sugar-based and dissolve instantly. Sauces are thick, often contain dairy or cocoa solids, and add body as well as flavor. Caramel, chocolate, and white chocolate are sauces. Most other flavors are syrups.
How much syrup does Dutch Bros put in a drink?
Roughly one ounce of total flavoring per coffee drink, held constant across sizes rather than scaled up. Ordering two flavors splits that ounce between them rather than doubling it.
Are Dutch Bros sugar-free syrups keto friendly?
The syrups themselves are low in carbohydrates, but the drink around them usually is not. Half-and-half in a breve and chocolate milk in a Caramelizer contribute far more than the syrup does. Changing the base matters more than changing the syrup.
Which syrup should I buy first?
Torani chocolate macadamia nut, because nothing else replicates it. Vanilla and caramel you can approximate with what is already in most kitchens.
Do Torani and Monin taste different?
Yes. Torani tends to run sweeter and bolder; Monin tends to run cleaner and less sweet. In a drink carrying a single flavor, the difference is noticeable. Buried under chocolate milk and caramel sauce, much less so.
The Short Version
Dutch Bros is not a one-brand operation, and the advice to just buy Torani will get you most of the way to some drinks and noticeably short on others. Match the brand to the flavor, respect the syrup-versus-sauce distinction, and use less than the recipes tell you.
Start with four bottles rather than fifteen. Most people who go deep on this end up with a shelf of fruit syrups they used twice and a caramel sauce they replace every two months, which is a fair signal about which purchases were the real ones.
