The Pumpkin Spice Latte (PSL) is a coffee drink made with a mix of traditional fall spice flavors (cinnamon, nutmeg, and clove), steamed milk, espresso, and often sugar, topped with whipped cream and pumpkin pie spice. The beverage is most commonly associated with Starbucks, which first offered the drink in the fall of 2003. [1] The popular flavor has inspired a wide range of product variations that appear on a seasonal basis. [2]
Starbucks started developing the Pumpkin Spice Latte in January 2003 following the successful introduction of winter seasonal drinks such as the Peppermint Mocha and Eggnog Latte. Starbucks' director of espresso Americas, Peter Dukes, said that "developers realized there was something special around the pumpkin flavor, especially since there wasn't anything around pumpkin at the time". The company experimented with different combinations and ratios of pumpkin to spice, ultimately deciding on a recipe with no pumpkin in it. [3]
In the fall of 2003, the final recipe was tested in Vancouver and Washington, D.C. Sales of the drink exceeded the company's expectations: Dukes said "we couldn't keep up initially... we had to expedite inventory to the stores." [4] [3] The product went on sale in all U.S. Starbucks stores the following year.
Pumpkin Spice Latte became Starbucks' most popular seasonal beverage, with more than 200 million sold between its 2003 introduction and 2015. [3] In 2013, the company applied to trademark the initialism PSL. Their application was granted and the trademark registered in 2015. [5] The beverage started a trend of pumpkin spice products, such as candles and air fresheners, as well as for foods as diverse as doughnuts, breakfast cereals, cough drops, and pasta sauce. [6] [7]
In August 2015, Starbucks changed the recipe to include pumpkin and remove artificial colors. The ingredients announced included a "pumpkin pie flavored syrup" made with sugar, condensed skim milk, pumpkin purée, coloring, and preservative. [8] In an IFT publication, Shelke said that the change was imperceptible and served only to "appease those who wanted to see real pumpkin on the list of ingredients." [9]
Starbucks sold more than 200 million Pumpkin Spice Lattes between its launch and 2013, generating revenue at a rate of at least $80 million a year in some seasons, and outselling products such as the Eggnog Latte and the Peppermint Mocha. [10] [11]
In a 2013 article published in Forbes magazine, Debra Donston-Miller wrote that "products that are available only for a limited time have a kind of built-in marketing that can grow in impact over time." [12]
In 2013, the company added a gaming element to the drink's arrival, allowing customers to "unlock" the drink at Starbucks stores nearby by ordering the drink with a code before its official sale date. [4]
Since the introduction of the Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Latte, other companies have created Pumpkin Spice-inspired products. According to Datassential Menu Trends, restaurants' pumpkin-inspired limited-time offers increased 234 percent between 2008 and 2012. [13] These items include pumpkin M&M's, Dunkin' Donuts pumpkin-flavored coffee K-packs, and pumpkin-flavored whiskey. Companies have also manufactured pumpkin spice lotion, shampoo, and candles. [10]
The Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Latte can also be made iced or as a Frappuccino upon request at a Starbucks store. In the fall of 2017, the company added a Chai variety of the drink called the Pumpkin Spice Chai Latte. [14] [15]
According to CNBC, the Pumpkin Spice Latte is Starbucks' most popular seasonal drink, with worldwide sales of around 424 million. [16] Forbes estimated the beverage accounted for $100 million in revenue for Starbucks in 2015. [17]
Cappuccino is an espresso-based coffee drink that is traditionally prepared with steamed milk including a layer of milk foam.
Starbucks Corporation is an American multinational chain of coffeehouses and roastery reserves headquartered in Seattle, Washington. It was founded in 1971 by Jerry Baldwin, Zev Siegl, and Gordon Bowker at Seattle's Pike Place Market initially as a coffee bean wholesaler. Starbucks was converted into a coffee shop serving espresso-based drinks under the ownership of Howard Schultz, who was chief executive officer from 1986 to 2000 and led the aggressive expansion of the franchise across the West Coast of the United States.
Caffè latte, also known as caffè e latte or caffellatte, less correct caffelatte, often shortened to just latte in English, is a coffee drink of Italian origin made with espresso and steamed milk, traditionally served in a glass. Variants include the chocolate-flavored mocha or replacing the coffee with another beverage base such as masala chai, mate, matcha, turmeric or rooibos; alternatives to milk, such as soy milk, coconut milk, almond milk or oat milk, are also used.
Frappuccino is a line of blended iced coffee drinks sold by Starbucks. It may consist of coffee or crème base, blended with ice and ingredients such as flavored syrups and usually topped with whipped cream and or spices. It may also include blended Starbucks refreshers. Frappuccinos are also sold as bottled coffee beverages in grocery stores, convenience stores and from vending machines.
Baileys Irish Cream is an Irish cream liqueur made of cream, cocoa and Irish whiskey emulsified together with vegetable oil. Baileys is made by Diageo at Nangor Road, in Dublin, Ireland and in Mallusk, Northern Ireland. It is the original Irish cream, invented by a team headed by Tom Jago in 1971 for Gilbeys of Ireland; Diageo currently owns the trademark. It has a declared alcohol content of 17% by volume.
Café au lait is coffee with hot milk added. It differs from white coffee, which is coffee with cold milk or other whiteners added.
Peet's Coffee is a San Francisco Bay Area-based specialty coffee roaster and retailer owned by JAB Holding Company via JDE Peet's. Founded in 1966 by Alfred Peet in Berkeley, California, Peet's introduced the United States to its darker roasted Arabica coffee in blends including French roast and grades appropriate for espresso drinks. Peet's offers freshly roasted beans, brewed coffee and espresso beverages, as well as bottled cold brew. In 2007, Peet's opened the first LEED Gold Certified roastery in the United States. Peet's coffee is sold in over 14,000 grocery stores across the United States.
The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf is an American coffee chain founded in 1963. It is owned and operated by International Coffee & Tea, LLC, which has its corporate headquarters in Los Angeles, California.
A caffè mocha, also called mocaccino, is a chocolate-flavoured warm beverage that is a variant of a caffè latte, commonly served in a glass rather than a mug. Other commonly used spellings are mochaccino and also mochachino. The name is derived from the city of Mokha, Taiz Governorate, Yemen, which was one of the centres of early coffee trade. Like latte, the name is commonly shortened to just mocha.
A flat white is a coffee drink consisting of espresso and steamed milk. It generally has a higher proportion of espresso to milk than a caffè latte, and lacks the thick layer of foam in a cappuccino. While the origin of the flat white is unclear, various café owners in Australia and New Zealand claim its invention.
Argo Tea began as a chain of tea cafes that was founded in the Lincoln Park community area in Chicago, Illinois, in June 2003.
Milk coffee is a category of coffee-based drinks made with milk. Johan Nieuhof, the Dutch ambassador to China, is credited as the first person to drink coffee with milk when he experimented with it around 1660.
5-hour Energy is an American-made "energy shot" manufactured by Living Essentials LLC. The company was founded by CEO Manoj Bhargava and launched in 2004.
Mazagran is a cold, sweetened coffee drink that originated in Algeria. Portuguese versions may use espresso, lemon, mint and rum, and Austrian versions are served with an ice cube and include rum. Sometimes a fast version is achieved by pouring a previously sweetened espresso in a cup with ice cubes and a slice of lemon. Mazagran has been described as "the original iced coffee".
Coffee wars, sometimes referred to as caffeine wars, involve a variety of sales and marketing tactics by coffeehouse chains and espresso machine manufacturers to increase brand and consumer market share. In North America belligerents in these wars typically include large coffeehouses, such as Starbucks, Dunkin', McDonald's, and Tim Hortons. According to The Economist, the largest coffee war of the late 2000s was between Starbucks and McDonalds in the United States. The U.S. market has, since the early 2010s, been primarily contested by its two largest players, Starbucks and Dunkin'. Since 2020, competition over the Chinese coffee market has intensified between Starbucks and Luckin Coffee.
Pumpkin ale is a popular style of beer in the United States. Pumpkin ale may be produced using pumpkin flesh in combination with malt or other more typical beer grains as a portion of the mash bill, contributing fermentable sugars to the wort. It may also be produced by adding natural or artificial flavor to a finished beer. Spice flavor may be added to evoke the flavor of pumpkin pie, a popular American wintertime dessert.
Pumpkin Spice Spam is a limited edition variety of Spam produced by Hormel Foods. It was released online on 23 September 2019, the first day of autumn. Spam is one of many brands to release pumpkin spice products for the autumn season, and is not the first meat product to be pumpkin spice flavored.
Oatly Group AB is a Swedish food company that produces alternatives to dairy products from oats, including oat milk. Oatly was formed in the 1990s using research from Lund University. Oatly has headquarters in Malmö and a production and development center in Landskrona.
Moore Coffee is a small chain of coffee shops based in Seattle, in the U.S. state of Washington. The Latino-owned business was established by Lupe Chavez in 2011. There are two shops in Seattle and a third in Burien.
