The weather outside may be Indian Summer, but the calendar tells us that autumn is here, and with autumn comes an extensive list of wildly flavoured beverages from every coffee retailer imaginable. From lattes to frappes, maple to salted caramel, coffee shops never cease to introduce new and creative flavours within seasonal ranges, writes Tilly Reynolds
However, there is one flavour that Starbucks’ customers associate with the onset of Autumn. Any ideas? Pumpkin Spice Latte.
“My first thought on the day of the Pumpkin Spice launch was ‘Beatlemania’.”
The Pumpkin Spice Latte has become nothing short of an autumn legend since it’s development in 2003, in Seattle. Developer, Peter Dukes has described the Pumpkin Spice Latte trend as having “taken on a life of its own”, and since becoming an employee at this famous coffee chain as I pay my way through my MA, I couldn’t agree more.
My first thought on the day of the Pumpkin Spice launch was ‘Beatlemania’, with queues around the block at drive thrus and mobile orders landing every few seconds – all from customers eager to get their Pumpkin Spice Latte fix. The hysteria doesn’t stop at the coffee shops either, with 41,000 likes and 15,000 retweets on launch day around 5 years ago, and a total since then of nearly 5 million tweets. Every year It is far and away the most talked about drink on the market.
The dynamics of coffee develop and grow, with as many variations as you can think of. And the Pumpkin Spice Latte is no longer confined as a hot, espresso-based beverage with steamed milk – It can now be enjoyed as an iced coffee; whipped into a cream and used as a topping for 20 hour prepared cold brew, or even blended into a Frappuccino, for the ultimate frozen sweet treat!
From my reading, no one realised how far this Pumpkin Spice craze would go, and from my research, many other companies have jumped on Starbucks’ Pumpkin Spice bandwagon, offering flavoured or scented items, ranging – bizarrely – from deodorant to popcorn.
Starbucks UK has a wide variety of tempting autumn treats, and of course I would recommend that everyone tries one, at least once. However, I had no idea how “crazy” the craze really is, with stores depleting their stocks rapidly as sales go through the roof, leaving some Pumpkin Spice Latte lovers without the sntidote for their cravings. I can only imagine that demand for this celebrated beverage will continue to grow in years to come.
So, if like me you’re an avid fan of a Pumpkin Spice Latte – or you have never tried it – fear not! You have until early November to sample it for yourself, and see what it is that has so energised coffee drinkers up and down the country… Maybe you could offer your own version?
Keep up to speed. Visit Planet Vending
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