The temperatures have started to drop here in the Midwest and that can only mean one thing… it’s time for FALL!
Fall can mean a lot of things to different people: it’s back to school, football season, and time to break out the sweaters. But for coffee shops, it means it is time to bring out all of the fall coffee drinks.
I have never been one to buy into the fall coffee drink craze, but I decided it was finally time to try them out this year. I went to three different coffee shops and had two fall beverages at each to see which ones are truly the best.
In the spirit of fall, I’m going to be rating them out of 5 pumpkin emojis.
First up, I tried Starbucks.
I knew that I couldn’t do this experiment of sorts without trying the original fall beverage: the Pumpkin Spice Latte.
I can say, the Pumpkin Spice Latte lived up to the hype. It is a delightful pumpkin-y flavor with notable spices that do remind me of a fancy pumpkin pie. It was very enjoyable to drink and made me feel very “fall”.
Next at Starbucks, I tried their Salted Caramel Mocha Frappuccino.
This one I found to be just as good as the PSL. It did have a definite saltiness to it, so if that’s not something you’re into, you may not like it. I am all about the salted caramel flavor, so I loved every second of it. I definitely would get this one again — it wasn’t too sweet, but it had a really good flavor.
Next up, I tried Caribou Coffee’s fall beverages.
I asked them about their fall drinks and they started to list off so many that I got slightly overwhelmed, so I just asked the barista which one was his favorite and got that.
The drink he recommended was called a blended Maple Bourdino.
This one tasted absolutely amazing at first. It was very creamy, smooth and didn’t seem too sweet. Although as I started to drink more of it, the flavor changed quite a bit and got stronger and sweeter. It ended up giving me a stomach ache, and I only drank half of it. I would recommend this to anyone who really enjoys super sugary drinks, but I couldn’t handle it myself.
Next at Caribou I tried their Pumpkin Pie Latte to see how it compared to Starbucks’ Pumpkin Spice Latte.
This was very comparable to the PSL. I can say it wasn’t quite as good, though. It did have the pumpkin-y flavor as well as the spices, but it got a little bitter in the middle. I would say it is a very good substitution if you can’t get your hands on the original.
Last, I tried out Mugby Junction’s fall beverages.
The first drink I tried was called the Eddie VanHazelnut.
This one was a blend of vanilla, hazelnut, and espresso. I absolutely loved this one. It was so delicious. This one was probably my favorite out of all of them. I’ll definitely be drinking quite a few of these in the upcoming months.
Lastly I tried a drink called the Apple Cloud.
This drink was a mixture of vanilla, apple, and white chocolate. This one was alright; I could faintly taste the apple, but it wasn’t anything super special.
Overall, I really enjoyed going around and testing out all of the new fall coffee drinks. I have a slight coffee addiction, so it is nice to know some different drinks I could get to switch it up every once in awhile. It definitely got me in the fall mood.