Pumpkin spice is back… earlier than ever

Change has been brewing at Starbucks for some time. Having already weathered internal power struggles, an ongoing sales slump, and activist investor campaigns, the Seattle-based company is now seeing last week’s sudden CEO replacement spinning out into a commute dispute on the global stage. 

Luckily, it’s late August, and the coffee behemoth has an orange ace up its sleeve: the pumpkin spice latte, the cozy fan-favorite that contributes to as much as 10% of Starbucks’ overall sales, per Axios. Yes, the weather is still warm and the leaves haven’t even thought about turning yet, but Starbucks has decided that the season is upon us — with the earliest release date ever for the beverage.

Since 2003 — when Starbucks first released a pumpkin latte flavored with cinnamon, ginger, cloves, and nutmeg — the spice has evolved into a minor cultural phenomenon. Google Trends data confirms that searches for “pumpkin spice” peak annually around the late Aug PSL release date and carry through to Thanksgiving, when interest in the phrase spikes again — as bakers put it in everything from pies to pancakes around the holiday.

Indeed, the flavoring has found its way into pretty much anything, with Spam, deodorant, and dog treats all jumping on the pumpkin spice bandwagon in past years. These limited edition products often translate to big mark-ups for brands: one 2022 survey found that a ‘pumpkin spice tax’ on seasonally flavored items can see the costs of these products increase by up to 161% at grocery stores.

For Starbucks, the company’s new CEO will be hoping that customers show up in force for their seasonal drinks, after a general decline in the number of searches for “starbucks near me”.

Harder they fall: Starbucks bringing forward their PSL drop comes amidst a slew of out-of-season online trends, with ‘#Augtober’, ‘#Summerween’, and ‘#CodeOrange’ all recently gaining traction on social media.