For local Texans, the second we feel a slight breeze in the air, everyone knows it’s the spooky season.
But for Starbucks, the holiday season began on Aug. 24 when they released their new and improved fall menu. The menu drinks and pastries both new and old.
Some of the newest members of the fall lineup include the Pumpkin Cream Chai Tea and the Apple Crisp Oat Milk Shaken Espresso, along with the new sweet treat, the Baked Apple Croissant. All of these follow in the footsteps of the OG Pumpkin Spice Latte, Pumpkin Cream Cold Brew and the dreamy Cream Cheese Pumpkin Muffin.
While some say these flavors couldn’t have come sooner, I’d argue fall doesn’t start for another month.
The drinks may be delicious and packed with all those sweet pumpkin-y artificial flavors that the world seems to go feral for, but I don’t think late Summer was the best time to release these iconic beverages. My major issue with this early release is that drinking a hot latte, while the forecast still calls for melting heat with a side of excruciating dryness, is just not enjoyable.
Similar to how I wouldn’t want to chug ramen when it’s 110 degrees Fahrenheit outside — which was the record breaking temperature on Aug. 27, just three days after the drinks were released. I have no desire to sip on a hot drink when the weather still allows me to take a dip in Barton Springs.
I have to admit that I myself adore these drinks and jumped at the opportunity to to enjoy them the second they came out. Still, it would mean more if I could drink my fall-flavored coffee when the weather has dropped to maybe 75 degrees (which, here in Texas, is sweater weather).
it would mean more if I could drink my fall-flavored coffee when the weather has dropped to maybe 75 degrees
I am a fall girl at heart, and love all things pumpkin and cardigan. Any mention of fall gets me excited to get out of this muggy heat, but in reality, Aug. was just too hot to release fall drinks when Texas continued to experience summer heat for another month and a half.
With the addition of the Pumpkin Chai and the Apple Crisp Shaken Espresso, Starbucks fanatics have wasted no time jumping into the Starbucks holiday season with this early release of the fall drinks. What is going to happen when they leave the menu to make room for the Christmas-flavored drinks?
With the early release of the fall drinks, it leaves me worried that they will not adequately fill the appropriate fall season, which in the calendar year is Sept. 23 – Dec.11. I have a hunch Starbucks will want to make room for the Christmas drinks the day after Thanksgiving, but the fall drinks will escape before we are ready to depart with the delicious drinks.
As a pumpkin connoisseur, with general knowledge of the holiday season, I think that mid-to-late September is the perfect time to introduce pumpkin to every local Starbucks. This alternative timing allows for the summer and winter seasons to run their course. As the heat starts to settle down, and the weather transitions into fall temperatures, we will be able to get excited, thus filling everyone with anticipation for the upcoming season filled with pumpkin sugar, spice, and everything nice.
Luella • Nov 15, 2023 at 5:40 pm
I very much enjoyed this article because I do believe that Starbucks tends to rush the seasons. In Texas hot drinks in august are too hot.However I do love the iced pumpkin spice late and that drink is iced so you can still enjoy it in the heat.