Although the weather is still in the high 80s and students just returned back to school, it’s never too early to start celebrating the Starbucks fall menu. If you’ve read any of my previous articles, you would know that I’m a pretty serious pumpkin spice frappuccino advocate. It’s one of my favorite treats in the entire world, so you can imagine my excitement on Aug. 30 when the drink was finally available in stores with the rest of Starbucks’ festive selection. You know that I had to try everything it had to offer, so
A quick disclaimer and something I should probably mention off the bat is that I’m allergic to coffee. I know, I sound dramatic when I say that to anyone, but it’s a true and sad fact about me that I simply have to live with, so all of the items tried were without coffee — fair warning.
Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffin
Let’s start strong here with the Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffin that I’m giving a 9/10. This pastry was a hit all around — SO good. The actual muffin part tasted like the perfect textured pumpkin bread, and with every bite of pumpkin bread came a mouthful of the creamiest cream cheese. This tasted like a pumpkin cheesecake but better.
The Pumpkin Chai Cream Foam
Now I just admitted that I don’t drink coffee, so I put my spin on the pumpkin cream cold brew. My concoction was a chai tea latte with the same pumpkin cream cold foam that comes with the seasonal cold brew drink. I have to say I gave this one a chef’s kiss. My combination of the pumpkin and chai made the perfect fall drink. It felt like sitting by the fire and reading a book on a crisp fall day. The feeling I got while drinking this awards it an 8/10.
Iced Pumpkin Spice “cream” Latte
I’m not going to lie, this next one was awful. Like really gross and not worth ever drinking. It was an Iced Pumpkin Spice “cream” latte. The “cream” means that there wasn’t any coffee, so I was essentially just drinking steamed almond milk with a little spice in it. Everything went wrong with this, the ice melted within seconds so the drink was a weird mixture of water and milk, and there was no flavor. So sorry Starbucks, I’m giving this one a 1/10.
The Pumpkin Scone
This one is decent. If you’re going to get a pastry, go for the muffin, but if you’re a scone fanatic you might love this sweet treat. The pumpkin scone base was fine, but a little dry. The icing was what made it, though. Vanilla with a spiced drizzle on top was the perfect addition to the bready base. I’m not a scone girl, so I give it a 5/10, but I live with a scone fanatic who gave it a whopping 8/10.
Pumpkin Spice Frappuccino — without coffee
Finishing strong with my obvious favorite, the Pumpkin Spice Frappuccino. This drink is just unbeatable. The flavor is bursting but light at the same time. The blended ice mixed with creamy milk is an impeccable combination that is perfect for any time of the day. And the whipped cream top makes everything better. I promise this 10/10 drink will not fail you.
If you take one thing away from this taste test, I hope it’s that you go and get yourself a pumpkin spice frappuccino and enjoy the oncoming fall sweater weather.
