Illustration by Heli Shah
I love pumpkin spice because of its nostalgia – it’s a flavor that can instantly transport me back to a comforting childhood autumn day.
You know that scene from “Ratatouille” where the snobbish, unimpressed critic takes a bite of a dish and is brought back to his mom’s cooking as a child?
That’s the effect that seasonal flavors like pumpkin spice have on me.
It takes me to the excitement I felt for autumn festivities to begin and how magical the season felt as a kid.
As I grow older and miss the simplicity of childhood more and more, I grasp onto anything that offers me this feeling of nostalgia.
Pumpkin spice combines pumpkin flavoring with spices like cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and allspice, according to Merriam-Webster.
The taste resembles the flavors of pumpkin pie, a popular dessert in the United States during the fall and winter months.
The hype surrounding this flavor originated in 2003, when Starbucks introduced the pumpkin spice latte (PSL) to its customers, according to a Sept. 29, 2024 article by BBC.
Although I’m not too familiar with how Starbucks’ PSL tastes because I don’t buy from them, I’ll happily indulge in many other coffee shop’s renditions of the seasonal flavor.
My personal favorite is Dutch Bros Coffee’s Caramel Pumpkin Brûlée Latte, although I’m biased because Dutch Bros is my favorite coffee place.
I’ve tried other places with pumpkin flavors like Peet’s Coffee and Academic Coffee and honestly, it wasn’t for me; however, when I find a place that makes it right, I’m very delighted.
However, some of my favorite pumpkin spice products are not even coffee, but in the form of pastries.
Cookies, bread, you name it – I just love how the flavor can be implemented into forms other than coffee and that it works.
Another popular fall flavor is maple and honestly I do not like it.
The flavor is too sweet for my liking; meanwhile, pumpkin spice has a more versatile flavor because of the mixture of spices and a subtle (when made correctly) pumpkin taste.
I love maple syrup on pancakes, but in any other form, it makes me sick.
Also I wouldn’t say these fall flavors are underrated just because they are advertised less than pumpkin spice.
In fact, when I went to Trader Joe’s a few weeks ago, most of the seasonal products I saw were maple rather than pumpkin spice.
I also despise the concept that anything popular is overrated, when typically, things become popular because they are genuinely good.
I get it, appreciating less popular things makes people feel more unique and different, but if people like pumpkin spice, let them enjoy their pumpkin spice guilt-free
Is it a bit dumb when people go overboard once the autumn season comes around and buy everything pumpkin spice? Yes.
That’s just because so many people take a good thing and do too much with it.
But that does not mean it isn’t any good.