It’s that time of year again! Starbucks’ fall menu is officially out. Everyone’s ready to pull their coats out of their closets and walk around with large cups of pumpkin spice lattes, awaiting the festive season. This year, Starbucks is estimated to make $100 million on pumpkin spice lattes (PSL) alone. Along with the famous PSL, Starbucks released three more drinks and some seasonal treats for the autumn season. We headed over to San Ramon’s City Center to see which one really reigns supreme this fall. And the verdict is in, so here’s our ranking from worst to best.
5) Iced Apple Crisp Oatmilk Shaken Espresso: $5.45
Taking last place is one of the newest additions to the Starbucks menu, the Iced Apple Crisp Oatmilk Shaken Espresso. With a simple brown appearance and syrup coating the bottom, its presentation was not nearly as impressive as the other seasonal drinks. Furthermore, the sweet coffee and apple scent of the drink was incredibly misleading, as it brought our hopes up. Instead, we were only met with bland coffee brew and little to no other flavors, tasting no different from water. Although the syrup was relatively easy to mix in, it did not contribute much to the drink’s flavor. We did not believe that the drink was worth a single penny, so we gave it an overall rating of 2.49/10.
4) Iced Apple Crisp Oatmilk Macchiato: $5.45
Coming in at fourth place is the Iced Apple Crisp Oatmilk Macchiato, another drink that’s new to the menu this year. Upon first glance, the drink had an unremarkable presentation: cream-colored with spiced apple syrup drizzled on top. It had a pleasant and sweet apple scent, which made us expect wonderful flavors from the drink. However, the taste of the drink was undoubtedly disappointing. The drink was described as having “layered flavors of apple, cinnamon, oats, and brown sugar” on the Starbucks website, yet in reality, it tasted nothing like this description. It seemed to contain no spices or flavors at all, and frankly, we found no difference between the taste of this drink and the taste of bland bread rolls in airplane meals. The drink was completely underwhelming, and it will be a disappointment to anyone hoping for a scrumptious new Starbucks seasonal drink. For these reasons, our overall rating of the drink was 4.18/10.
3) Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffin: $3.65
In third place is the Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffin, the only non-drink on this list. It gave a cute first impression with its pumpkin-colored wrapper. Dusted with pistachios and filled with cream cheese, the muffin had a nice pumpkin flavor and a moist texture. However, the cream cheese was only on the surface of the muffin and lacked sweetness and flavor. Although the pistachios provided an aesthetic appeal to the muffin, it fell short in providing any flavor or textural elements, rather, it fell off the muffin when you took a bite. In the end, it was a fairly standard fall treat for the season, so we gave it a rating of 5.37/10.
2) Iced Pumpkin Cream Chai Tea: $5.45
Coming in strong at second place is the Iced Pumpkin Cream Chai Tea. The drink offered a unique presentation: a warm brown coffee at the bottom and a white pumpkin foam ombré, topped with a sprinkle of cinnamon dust. This cold drink gives off a pungent pumpkin scent as soon as you receive it, leaving you wanting more. However, we felt that the chai dominated the rest of the flavors in the drink. As extravagant as the presentation was, the drink simply lacked variety of flavors that it claimed to have, leading to our final rating of 8.23/10.
1) Pumpkin Spice Latte: $5.45
In first place, somewhat unsurprisingly, is the iconic Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Latte. This year marks the 20th anniversary of the drink, and it’s now Starbucks’ most popular seasonal drink, with hundreds of millions sold over the last 20 years. Last year, the drink was even added to the Merriam-Webster dictionary! The drink was steaming hot when we first ordered it, with a light orange color and a dollop of foam. It had a pleasant pumpkin aroma that clearly reminded us of autumn, which is the goal that this entire menu seeks to accomplish. The pumpkin spice flavor of the drink blended in perfectly with the coffee and combined with the cinnamon flavor, the drink was cohesive. The drink tasted exactly what fall feels like: earthy, sweet, and warm. No other drink on the fall seasonal menu stood out as much as the PSL. While we originally expected a different forerunner, the PSL came out on top with an overall rating of 9.67/10.
Conclusion
At the end of the day, Starbucks’ fall menu brought nothing new to the table this year. Its newest additions were overpriced, overhyped, and overall lackluster. The only drink that truly impressed us was the PSL, but it has been one of the top Starbucks drinks for the past 20 years. While the newer drinks were underwhelming this year, we can only hope that they will eventually reach the status of autumn staples like the PSL.
