Pumpkin Passion

Name: Pumpkin Spice Latte
Purchased At: Starbucks
Price: $4.25 (grande)
Availability: Seasonal

How awesomely amazing is that picture?!?! You didn’t think I was going to say “How awesomely amazing is Starbucks’ pumpkin spice latte” did you? Uh Oh! If you did you may not like this review. I’ve procrastinated this blog post for WAY too long and now that I’m not in the mood to rave over the pumpkin treats I found over the weekend, I guess I’ll get this over with:

Starbucks has a Pumpkin Spice Latte yeah, they do. Hmm, I don’t have much to say about it. I think it’s alright. The taste is a little funky and the color is a strange yellow/orangey color. When they bring back the PSL in September I purchase a couple and enjoy them but soon go back to my regular soy latte. I’m not 100% sure that my dissatisfaction with the drink is due to the sticky sweetness of it or that I like my lattes unsweetened.

I know that this blog will be heresy to some. I have friends (Hi Alli!) who go completely gaga over this stuff and, according to the “Starbucks Gossip” blog, was partially responsible for an 11% increase in sales a few years back but I’m just not thrilled with it. There’s definitely a pumpkin flavor to it but the taste is just indescribably off. The Chicago Tribune was also not overly happy with the flavor, giving it a “C” rating in their pumpkin spice coffee tasting.

So to those of you that enjoy it, keep on loving it! I’ll just make my own pumpkin spice by sprinkling a good amount of cinnamon and nutmeg on top of a regular latte.

Rating: 2 out of 5

Something I can get enthused about is DBTabasco’s “Pumpkin Latte Art” photoset over at Flickr. Through his generous usage of a creative commons license is how I got the photo featured above. Check it out.