Pumpkin Spice Latte

The Pumpkin Spice Latte is a coffee drink made with a mix of traditional fall spice flavors (cinnamon, nutmeg, and clove), steamed milk, and espresso, topped with whipped cream and pumpkin pie spice. Since 2015, it has also contained a small amount of pumpkin puree. The drink is offered by Starbucks and many other cafés on a seasonal basis, usually being introduced on the first of September—though in 2014 the drink was introduced earlier on August 25—and usually, depending on the store, will end sometime around the end of December.

Starbucks started developing the Pumpkin Spice Latte in January 2003 in an attempt to expand on the success of winter seasonal drinks such as the Peppermint Mocha and Eggnog Latte. According to Peter Dukes, Starbucks' director of espresso Americas, developers tested ten products with consumers, with the Pumpkin Spice Latte coming out in the middle of the group after chocolate and caramel flavors. However, as Dukes noted, "developers realized there was something special around the pumpkin flavor, especially since there wasn't anything around pumpkin at the time". The company experimented with different combinations and ratios of pumpkin to spice, ultimately deciding on a recipe with no pumpkin in it.

In fall of 2003, the final recipe was tested in Vancouver and Washington, D.C.. Sales of the drink exceeded all expectations—"we couldn't keep up initially" explained Dukes, "we had to expedite inventory to the stores [at the time 7,225—now nearly 19,000]." The product entered all American Starbucks stores the following year.

The company and consumers came to recognize the Pumpkin Spice Latte as Starbucks' most popular seasonal beverage, with more than 200 million sold between its 2003 introduction and 2015. After this, sales increased by 234% from 2008 to 2012. The beverage is known to have a distinctive aroma, which has since been branded into a range of articles, such as air fresheners and other foodstuffs, like tortilla chips, produced by companies other than Starbucks.

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