It’s pumpkin spice season, but it doesn’t feel like it

Starbucks released its seasonal drinks, including the famed Pumpkin Spice Latte (PSL), on August 24. While the flavors scream autumn, the weather does not in most people living in the US. Part of this discrepancy stems from the fact that Starbucks has pushed up the release date since the PSL debuted 20 years ago in October, 2003. As the years passed the launch date came earlier and earlier. By 2015 it had creeped to the first part of September and since 2018 it’s been in late August. There is another explanation for fall flavors not corresponding with the weather, however: climate change. Warmer than historical average temperatures continuing well into autumn makes for a “dissonant pumpkin spice season,” says Eater’s Jaya Saxena.

One way to combat the mismatch between the weather and the typical autumn drinks that are hot and spiced is to create more iced drinks with the same flavors, and Starbucks and other coffee shops have done just that. Cold beverages make up a vast majority of Starbucks’ beverage sales, so it makes sense for them to emphasize their iced drinks which sell well any time of the year.

It isn’t just Starbucks; other food and beverage retailers have capitalized on the PSL flavors’ popularity, offering a bevy of sweet treats that also feature the warming spices such as cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger that are the hallmark of the PSL, which does not contain any pumpkin, much to some people’s surprise. In a bid to appeal to pumpkin purists, some retailers have taken to adding actual pumpkin to their food and drinks. Caribou Coffee, an upper Midwest chain, boasts that they have real pumpkin in all of their pumpkin spice food and drinks.