Does Starbucks' Pumpkin Spice Latte Contain Real Pumpkin?

It's an international holiday when Starbucks rolls out its annual Pumpkin Spice Latte and pumpkin-flavored products. Well, not really, but it certainly feels that way to those of us who wait patiently all year for the first sip of fall-in-a–cup. Though many other brands attempt pumpkin spice products, nothing rivals a piping hot cup of the original from the to-go window on a chilly morning.

This year, Starbucks announced the return of its beloved pumpkin spice line at the end of August, just in time to ease customers out of the summer season and into fall. The drink may seem iconic as it is now, but the adored pumpkin beverage looked very different when it was first introduced to the public some 20 years ago. The original Pumpkin Spice Latte (or PSL, for short), didn't even contain real pumpkin. These days you'll find 3 tablespoons of Starbucks' Homemade Pumpkin Spice Syrup in each of the lattes, which does, thankfully, contain a whopping 4 tablespoons of real pumpkin puree, but back in the day, the pumpkin part of a PSL was simply imaginary.

In 2015, Peter Dukes, director of Espresso and Brewed Coffee at Starbucks at the time, commented in an official press release on the Starbucks website announcing that "this season, PSL [will be] made with real pumpkin, and without caramel coloring."

This was the first big change to the PSL recipe since its introduction in 2003. The Pumpkin Spice Latte was an immediate hit and was also a revolutionary idea at the time, with Starbucks being one of the first to gamble on the assortment of spices and sugars. But after years of popularity, Starbucks fans and PSL connoisseurs were tired of dangerous and unnecessary chemicals such as caramel color class IV and carrageenan gunking up their lattes instead of actual pumpkin — with both ingredients bearing no real difference in taste.

Starbucks executives heard the complaints from their customers and made the switch in 2015 to a PSL recipe with real pumpkin and without the caramel coloring. They began using kabocha pumpkin puree in the lattes, a pumpkin known for its nutty, sweet flavor that makes it perfect for coffee syrup. Although PSL critics will argue that the new recipe isn't much healthier than the original one, PSL fans can finally appreciate the flavors of real pumpkin and spices in their lattes. And if any PSL fans happen to live near a Starbucks Reserve Roastery, they can even try the famous latte with a bit of real pumpkin and a bit of real booze, too!