12/8/2023 0 Comments Vox emblem![]() Culinary food trend analyst Suzy Badaracco told Vox in 2014, “Pumpkin became recognized as part of the comfort food trend during the recession in 2008,” due to its association with Thanksgiving and the holidays. ![]() In part, that’s thanks to its marketing - there is nothing inherently seasonal about the spices that go in pumpkin pie, but Starbucks is able to convince us that the drink should only be consumed during the fall months, thereby increasing demand.īut there’s another reason the PSL exploded so much over the past decade. By all accounts, it tasted pretty much the same, just, according to its inventor, “cleaner.”Īt that point, the PSL wasn’t just a cash cow it was a cultural phenomenon. In 2015, Forbes estimated the PSL brought in around $100 million in revenue over a single season.Ģ015 was also the year that Starbucks changed its decade-old formula to include actual pumpkin for the first time, rather than simply caramel coloring and pumpkin pie spices (like cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, allspice, and cloves). As former Starbucks veteran Tim Kern told Quartz, “A number of us thought it was a beverage so dominated by a flavor other than coffee that it didn’t put Starbucks’ coffee in the best light.”įortunately for Starbucks, the Tim Kerns of the company were ultimately overruled, because within a decade of its launch in 2003, the PSL became its top-selling drink, with more than 200 million of them sold. The pumpkin spice latte almost didn’t exist. In 2019, the chain leaned in further with the introduction of the Pumpkin Cream Cold Brew, finally admitting to the world that late August is still iced coffee weather. After all, the PSL is doing something right: It’s Starbucks’ most popular seasonal beverage, with about 424 million sold worldwide. (There is a shop in Scotland that serves mayonnaise ice cream, people!) Too frequently, it’s about sexism, class anxiety, and our collective skepticism of savvy marketing. After all, there are plenty of other flavors we should all be way more furious about. Yes, it contains 380 calories yes, it will make your coffee a rather unappetizing orange color no, you should not “guzzle it down by the liter.”īut contempt for the PSL and other items of the seasonal pumpkin spice variety is often not really about the flavor itself. Since its inception in 2003, the pumpkin spice latte has become something of a straw man for discussions about capitalism, seasonal creep, and the meaning of “basic,” resulting in widespread hatred for an otherwise innocuous beverage.įor example, back in 2014, at the height of pumpkin spice mania, this very website described the PSL as “an unctuous, pungent, saccharine brown liquid, equal parts dairy and diabetes, served in paper cups and guzzled down by the liter” - even though clearly the pumpkin spice latte is a highly delicious treat that pairs well with wearing vests and making dorky comments about how crisp the air feels today. You’d be forgiven for mistaking this tone for one of disdain. ![]() And yet it’s the day in 2022 - somehow not even their earliest release date ever - that Starbucks chose to ready its blazing orange jugs of “pumpkin sauce” and unleash its annual run of pumpkin spice lattes upon its customers. August 30 is not a day that is particularly known for feeling especially crisp or autumnal in most parts of North America.
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