Four Chains That Don’t Use Real Pumpkin in Their Pumpkin Spice Lattes
It’s officially pumpkin spice latte season again. And honestly, does it feel like these drinks show up earlier every single year? The second summer starts winding down, suddenly everything is pumpkin-flavored, and we’re all supposed to be ready for fall.
But there’s one question that always comes back: What actually makes a pumpkin spice latte a pumpkin spice latte?
Pumpkin Spice Is Not Actually Pumpkin?
For years, the answer was… apparently not actual pumpkin. A lot of coffee shops were using a mix of cinnamon, nutmeg, and other cozy fall spices without putting any real pumpkin in the drink. That caused quite a stir in the 2010s because, well, if you’re calling it a pumpkin spice latte, people kind of expect there to be pumpkin in it.
That pressure eventually pushed Starbucks to change its recipe and add kabocha squash, which is a type of Japanese pumpkin.
These days, most of us probably assume our beloved PSL has at least a little real pumpkin hiding in there along with all those warm, comforting spices that make it taste like fall in a cup.
But here’s the plot twist: Some popular coffee chains still make pumpkin spice drinks without using any actual pumpkin or squash at all.
Yep. No pumpkin. Just the spices and syrup doing all the heavy lifting.
And while some of these drinks are apparently still really good, we're here to expose them anyway. Because if I'm ordering a pumpkin spice latte, I want to know whether there's actually any pumpkin invited to the party.
