The Starbucks cafe and drive-thru has been crammed with LHS students throughout all open campus periods. During these autumn months, life becomes a routine. The bell rings, signaling the end of class, students flood into the hallways, off campus students go to their cars, and they start a mobile order. Immediately after opening the Starbucks app, the new featured menu pops up: six new drinks, three bakery items, and one new food item.
The strawberry açaí refresher frenzy is starting to fizzle out and pumpkin spice is making its annual comeback. Summer is out. Fall is in.
Four of the new drinks, of course, revolve around the flavor, pumpkin spice. The other two are pecan based drinks for the non-pumpkin lovers who still want to be included in this season’s fall festivities. However, the pumpkin drinks continue to be far more popular compared to the pecan ones, or in past years, the apple crisp drinks.
One drink that takes the cake in overall superiority, is the pumpkin spice latte. This drink was introduced as a seasonal item over 20 years ago in 2003, and is one of the most popular seasonal drinks of all time. The drink is made with espresso, steamed milk, sweetened pumpkin puree, and classic fall spices like cinnamon, nutmeg, and clove.
Although some may argue that Dunkin’s iced pumpkin lattes are made of basically the same ingredients, the one main difference is Starbucks uses real pumpkin puree, giving it an authentic and elevated flavor. How can Dunkin create a pumpkin spice latte without using real pumpkin?
The fall menu is released late Aug., before fall even officially starts, which brings in many new and returning customers more frequently. According to thelist.com, the busiest month of the year for Starbucks is Sept. because the fall menu has just been released. Thus, Starbucks gains the most revenue from its fall menu because many customers love a tasty little pumpkin drink to send them into fall.
If you haven’t tested out any of the fall items this year or in previous years, what are you doing? You are severely missing out on tastes of heaven. Juniors and seniors, utilize your open-campus period and try a fun new drink.
