By Emma Kidger
While many rushed to their nearest Starbucks as soon as this fall rolled around, I reluctantly stayed put from indulging in the rave of the infamous pumpkin spice latte. The oversweetened pumpkin syrup and the inconsistent ratio of milk to coffee leads me to believe that the pumpkin spice latte is the biggest fall flop.
Contributing to the pumpkin spice insanity, Starbucks describes this unfathomable drink as an “espresso and steamed milk, combined with a blend of pumpkin and traditional fall spice flavors.” However, according to the drinks ingredients, there is not a single trace of pumpkin but an enormous amount of artificial sweetener. With 380 calories in total, the hot beverage is served with an engrossing amount of bright orange made of artificial sweeteners, topped off with an extreme amount of whipped cream adding even more sugar. Despite Starbucks’ cover up for their sugar filled extravaganza, they do live up to their word with steamed milk. By the time waiting for Starbucks’ warm drink is up, the drink is cold and not enjoyable. Who enjoys receiving a drink they’ve been dying to try only to let it sit for 25 minutes because of how hot it is? Definitely not me. The steamed milk also takes away from the focus of the beverage: the spiced coffee. Whenever I’ve taken a chance at Starbucks, I can barely taste the various blends of coffee because of the unnecessary amount of milk they add. In addition to the poorly measured milk, the fake pumpkin syrup takes away even more coffee flavor leaving you with pumpkin flavored milk.
The cinnamon and other fall spiced flavors mixed with coffee, would sound good to most but due to the ginormous servings of sugar and steamed milk, the pumpkin spice latte will forever remain a fall flop.