You go into your favorite coffee shop, you open the door, and your nose welcomes the strong smell of roasted beans. However, now that the seasons are beginning to turn, it comes to your attention that the board holding different choices of coffee also holds the famous drink: the Pumpkin Spice Latte.
Yes, we are talking about the Pumpkin Spice Latte, and its seasonal return to the mainstream world.
I wanted to write about this drink I used to call “Basic,” because everyone and their grandmas gathered at Starbuck every Fall like a séance to drink Pumpkin Spice Lattes. I was pleasantly surprised to find out some of the history behind the Pumpkin Spice Latte, and what people around the SFA campus thought of it.
The Pumpkin Spice Latte was originally tested in 2003, then later introduced into the American mainstream the following year due to its success in D.C and Vancouver, Canada. It seemed like the PSL was a sort of hidden gem considering it wasn’t talked about too much. Then the explosion of social media happened, and suddenly PSL popularity started to rocket. It became so popular between 2008 to 2012, that it was THE latte to drink.
Social media sites took the PSL like a fish to water, and swam with it. The hashtag #PSL trends on twitter annually, and influenced PSL to gain its own twitter profile in 2014. The profile now has over 114 thousand followers and is still growing! (Check out the profile out @TheRealPSL)
But people around campus had mixed reviews about this famous drink too.
An older barista, a lovely lady by the name of Regina Polk, at the Baker Pattillo Student Center’s Starbucks said the Pumpkin Spice Latte was, “Fun to make…[she] had been making the drink for ten years!” Regina was very animated to tell me that she also thought it was “easier to make, just a couple of ingredients—super quick.”
I also spoke with multiple students. Most said they had never had the PSL, majority due to not liking the flavor pumpkin, or just that the thought of drinking it made them cringe—they feared being too mainstream. Thankfully, one student came through for me.
“I like to drink mine cold,” Sarah Bonds told me. “It tastes better to me like that…it tastes like a pumpkin pie, it’s not bad.” They continued to chat with me about the PSL and suggested for me to give it a shot, and try it. I’m not afraid to admit that I am excited to try it out sometime this fall.
When the sweet taste of pumpkin hits your lips, it will either disgust you or satisfy you. It is plain to see that Pumpkin Spice Lattes rule when late September rolls around.
Photo by Daina Phillips for Her Campus at SFA