On August 24th Starbucks brought back their beloved fall menu. This menu includes the return of the famous Pumpkin Spice Latte (PSL) for its 20th year as well as the Pumpkin Cream Cold Brew and two new seasional drinks, Iced Apple Crisp Oat Milk Shaken Espresso and Iced Pumpkin Cream Chai Tea Latte.
Starting off with one of my go-to fall drinks for the past two years: the Iced Pumpkin Cream Chai Tea Latte.
This drink was inspired by popular customer and barista customization. It is made of 2% milk, pumpkin spice, pumpkin cream cold foam and 4 pumps of chai.
If fall was a taste it would taste like this drink because of the coldness of the drink and the cinnamon flavor. This is a good option for those who aren’t big coffee fans as there isn’t coffee. Chai has a lighter flavor meaning you can taste more of the pumpkin and cinnamon, which I love.
Overall, I would rate it 5/5 pumpkins and would recommend this drink to all fall lovers like myself.
The next drink I tried was the Pumpkin Cream Cold Brew, which is a cold brew sweetened with vanilla-flavored syrup and pumpkin cream cold foam with a dusting of pumpkin-spice topping.
This coffee is not for the weak. If you don’t like coffee I would definitely not recommend it. You need to LOVE coffee for this drink. I don’t usually mind coffee, but it was so strong and bitter you couldn’t taste anything but coffee. This drink did not pass the fall vibe check, or any vibe check for that matter. I rate this drink 0/5 pumpkins.
The next drink I tried was the Apple Crisp Oat Milk Shaken Espresso. Although I am not the biggest apple fan I was super excited to try this drink. This drink makes you feel that fall has begun. Although not my favorite of the three, I really enjoyed this drink.
This drink is made out of four pumps of apple brown sugar, three shots of Espresso, and Blonde Espresso Roast. This drink needs to be mixed very well to get a good taste of it. If you don’t mix it you will only taste the coffee and the other flavors will only be at the bottom.
The flavors of the drink were not balanced super well. The taste of the apple was very weak and brown sugar was almost overbearing. Although it wasn’t a “bad” drink, I don’t think I’ll be getting it again. I rate this drink a 3/5. pumpkins, as it was good and a HUGE improvement to the cold brew but not my favorite.
Last but definitely not least, the Pumpkin Spice Latte. This is a very popular, nostalgic drink that’s made of espresso and steamed milk with pumpkin, cinnamon and nutmeg flavors, topped with whipped cream.
This very much reminded me of fall, it’s like pumpkin hot chocolate. I’ve been told by many classmates that if you get it iced it’s more watered down. It’s better to get it hot if you want to truly get the full experience. Although I am not the biggest coffee fan I still really enjoyed this drink. I would give it 4/5 pumpkins just because I’m more of an iced coffee girl.
In conclusion, even though the cold weather can get really depressing, you can always look forward to the Starbucks seasonal drinks.
