Nearly twenty years ago, Starbucks first unveiled the Pumpkin Spice Latte and it pretty much broke America. Ever since that fateful day we’ve been living in the aftermath and every year around this time people absolutely lose their f*cking minds over pumpkin (or pumpkin-spice)–flavored food products. Store shelves get stocked with an unusually high number of items that no one ever asked for, splitting us into two factions: people who hate pumpkin spice-flavored things with the sort of inexplicable passion usually reserved for mayo, and people who love pumpkin spice-flavored things so much that they have to have it on everything. Again, like mayo.
What we’re trying to say is — pumpkin spice is like seasonal mayo. A very vocal minority of people absolutely hate it and make a lot of noise over it, but a majority of people clearly love it because we keep getting pumpkin-flavored things.
While Starbucks didn’t invent pumpkin spice, they definitely helped to popularize it. And now the drink that started it all is back for its 19th consecutive year as the centerpiece of Starbucks’ new fall menu. The full menu consists of the Pumpkin Spice Latte, Pumpkin Cream Cold Brew, Apple Crisp Macchiato, Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffin, Pumpkin Scone, and the Pumpkin Loaf, and will be available for a limited time until we hit the winter season and everything becomes peppermint.
Anyway, we tried the entire fall menu so that you don’t have to, and ranked them. Here is what’s worth ordering and what’s not.
6. Pumpkin Scone
Tasting Notes:
We have to give the bottom spot to the Pumpkin Scone — sorry, scone fans. A good scone should be soft and crumbly, this is dense, dry, and bready. The flavor is there, it’s a nice mix of earthy cinnamon, nutmeg, and molasses notes and it tastes delicious, but the dry mouthfeel holds this back. The scone is topped with a heavy layer of sugary icing, and it adds a nice sweet creamy compliment to the spicier flavors, but it also adds a brittle top layer to the already-bad mouthfeel.
The Bottom Line:
Skip it. It’s too dry and doesn’t have the texture of a proper scone.
5. Pumpkin Cream Cold Brew
There is a sour staleness to Starbucks’ Cold Brew so I can’t say I’m a fan of the Pumpkin Cream Cold Brew. This drink combines Starbucks’ cold brew sweetened with vanilla syrup and topped with pumpkin cream flavored cold foam and a sprinkling of pumpkin spice. The flavor isn’t quite as spice-forward as you’d expect, instead, that sour cold brew flavor and vanilla dominate with the pumpkin serving as a feature, not the focus.
When something is pumpkin spice flavored, you kind of want that to be the dominant flavor. This tastes like a major miss.
The Bottom Line:
Skip it. If you want a pumpkin-flavored iced drink you’re better off going with an iced pumpkin spice latte — the pumpkin notes just aren’t strong enough here to satisfy.
4. Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffin
Tasting Notes:
Okay pumpkin spice fans, I promise that my hate for this Starbucks Fall menu ends… right after this entry. I’m kidding, the Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffin is pretty delicious. The muffin features a pumpkin spice base with strong nutmeg, cinnamon, ginger, and clove flavors and a dollop of cream cheese in the center of the muffin top. It’s spicy, tangy, sweet, and strangely comforting. This muffin put me in a really good mood, which, I mean shouldn’t be a surprise, it’s a muffin, but for whatever reason, I ended my original tasting notes by writing the phrase “a feel-good muffin!”
The cream cheese pairs great with the pumpkin spice flavor, adding a sweet and gentle tang, I think the combination works even better than carrot cake and cream cheese. The only downside of this muffin is the stump, it’s a bit too dry and boring in comparison to the top, but then, what muffin aside from blueberry (the greatest muffin) doesn’t have this problem?
The Bottom Line:
Get it! A pumpkin-flavored version of carrot cake, it even has pumpkin seeds in place of the walnuts.
3. Pumpkin Spice Latte
Tasting Notes:
I get why Starbucks is responsible for America’s obsession with pumpkin spice. A lot of pumpkin spice-flavored things taste gimmicky, they can feel like a product of pure marketing that exists solely because brands know people will be curious, but Starbucks’ Pumpkin Spice Latte actually tastes like something someone genuinely tried to make taste good. And it does!
This latte is flavored with cinnamon, nutmeg, and clove, along with a spiced pumpkin sauce that totally drowns out the bitter notes of Starbucks’ espresso, offering a sweet, fragrant, and spicy flavor that dances on the tongue. I know it’s still summer, but definitely get this one hot, Starbucks’ iced lattes tend to taste more muddled and watered down, but on the hot version of this latte the flavors really jump out on the palate.
The Bottom Line:
Order it hot alongside number two on this ranking.
2. Pumpkin Loaf
Tasting Notes:
Before actually eating this thing I was convinced it was going to rank at the bottom of this list. It looks like the most boring baked snack ever, it’s simply a small dry-looking loaf of pumpkin spice bread. One bite of this thing and I was blown away. This is just too good, the cinnamon, clove, and nutmeg flavor taste rich and spicy and the bread itself is incredibly moist and spongey. It melts in your mouth, which isn’t something I’d ever expect from a Starbucks bakery case.
Pumpkin seeds pepper the top of the loaf, adding that soft nutty, slightly savory flavor that pumpkin seeds have. The only thing that could improve this loaf is some whipped cream — it’s not necessary but it would do a lot to make this experience even more delicious. Besides, Starbucks is always trying to get you to take whipped cream on things — why not this?!
The Bottom Line:
It looks boring but it’s the best Starbucks bakery case item you can get at this time of year.
1. Apple Crisp Macchiato
Tasting Notes:
If you clicked on this article because you’re a hardcore pumpkin spice fan I’m sorry but… Apple Crisp trumps pumpkin spice. Maybe it’s just the novelty of having something different, but the Apple Crisp tastes a lot more interesting to me and less tired than pumpkin spice. The Apple Crisp Macchiato combines Starbucks’ blond espresso — which features a lighter and more delicate flavor than Starbucks’ over-roasted OG espresso used in the Pumpkin Spice Latte — and oat milk with the flavors of apple, cinnamon, and brown sugar, topped with a spiced apple drizzle.
The flavor hits the palate with a sour green apple skin flavor before mellowing out into an apple pie sweetness, with a soft and smooth mouthfeel. There is a pleasant roundness to the way the flavors travel across your tongue, it’s delicate, sweet, and slightly fruity, but in a way that still speaks to the fall season. Forget about pumpkin spice, let’s usher in the decade of the Apple Crisp!
The Bottom Line:
In a perfect world, Starbucks would flip a coin every year and decide between the pumpkin spice or apple crisp. It would make each flavor more special, but with both available, our go-to is the Apple Crisp Macchiato.
