Once again it’s that time of year. The leaves are changing color to vibrant reds, oranges, and yellows, falling to the ground. The holidays of Halloween and Thanksgiving near and the weather outside can only be described as crisp. It’s that time of year where everyone wears knitted scarves and drinks pumpkin spice lattes. 

Sure pumpkin spice lattes are an essential part of the “fall aesthetic” but how did this pumpkin spice flavoring come into being? This one flavoring dominates fall foods. Pumpkin spice is everywhere; oreos, cereal, coffee creamer, marshmallows, ramen noodles, popcorn, you name it. The truth is that pumpkin spice was a thing long before Starbucks was. 

While it depends on who you ask, pumpkin spice is generally some sort of combination of nutmeg, cinnamon, ginger, allspice, and cloves. While the spices within pumpkin spice all have their own unique histories, pumpkin spice originally went by the name of pumpkin pie spice and was sold by McCormick. As the name suggests, it was a spice to use for baking pumpkin pies. But the iconic pumpkin spice latte wasn’t created until later by Peter Dukes.

 Dukes led the team which eventually developed the pumpkin spice latte. Tasked with creating a fall beverage after the successes of many seasonal winter beverages, the team had to narrow down many beverage ideas. They came up with the idea of the pumpkin spice latte. The beverage did well in testing, and eventually became the infamous drink we all know it as today.

But is the Starbucks drink as popular as it seems? Let’s see what the students here at Whitney Young think about it. We asked ten Whitney Young students if pumpkin spice lattes were worth the hype to which the majority of them said yes. Out of all the people we asked, 60% of them responded that pumpkin spice lattes were indeed worth the hype.

Overall, the history of pumpkin spice lattes is fascinating. Not only is the history one of intrigue, but the product itself is popular with many whether around the country or within Whitney Young. Most likely the next time you drink a pumpkin spice latte, you’ll know a bit more about its history and you can think back to this article.