Exploring Starbucks Seasonal Drinks

It’s finally fall, otherwise known as autumn or, for coffee lovers, pumpkin spice season. To celebrate, I (along with some input from my friends) went to Starbucks and bought all eight seasonal drinks. Here are our rankings from worst to best: 

8. Apple Crisp Frappucino: 2/10

The apple flavor is incredibly underwhelming, and it’s so sweet that you can’t take more than four sips. What could’ve been a perfect opportunity to introduce apple pie to a drink just fell flat. 

7. Pumpkin Cream Coldbrew: 5/10

It’s tastier than a regular cold brew, but forgettable in comparison to the rest of the seasonal menu. It simply did not stand out to me!

6. The PSL… Pumpkin Spice Latte: 5/10

It feels wrong to put this classic drink at the bottom of the list, but the pumpkin flavor feels too artificial this year. It’s rare that I buy an overpriced coffee and think “I could’ve made this at home”, but that’s where the PSL took me. 

5. Iced Apple Crisp Oat Milk Shaken Espresso: 6/10

This one is for coffee lovers, who love the pure unfiltered taste of espresso. This happens to be me, so I enjoyed it. That being said, the apple crisp flavor is so weak that the extra two dollars are hardly worth it. Either ask for two extra pumps of apple or buy something else. 

4. Hot Apple Crisp Oat Milk Macchiato: 6.5/10

Similar to the Apple Crisp Shaken Espresso, the apple flavor is once again not very strong. However, it’s tasty and feels like a fun play on apple cider. 

3. Pumpkin Spice Frappucino: 7/10

Full of nostalgia, sugar, and pumpkin flavor, this is the drink to order once a year, and never again. 

2. Iced Apple Crisp Macchiato: 7.5/10

This is the same thing as the hot version, but a winner on a regular 80-degree September afternoon.

1. Iced Pumpkin Cream Chai Latte: 9/10

This tastes incredible, almost like a Yankee Candle. It’s comforting and sweet, with just the right amount of pumpkin. The foam is the best part–and there’s a lot of it–but the drink does lose a little bit of its “oomph” once it’s gone. Would definitely get it again, though.