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As the days shorten and the leaves start turning yellow, many a coffee drinker’s thoughts turn to the pumpkin spice latte. The PSL is a huge deal, with independent cafes and chains alike bringing it back each fall—Starbucks alone earns $500 million a year from the beverage. However, a story from Fortune suggests the PSL is falling out of vogue.
This year, McDonald’s is opting out of the PSL frenzy. According to reporting by Marco Quiroz-Gutierrez, McDonald’s choice not to include the PSL in its fall lineup is an indication that the drink’s grip on seasonal beverages may be loosening.
Other evidence includes data from Google Trends, which show that searches for “pumpkin spice latte” are falling while other drinks like matcha and chai are climbing. And according to DoorDash, flavors like caramel, apple, and cinnamon are trending higher than pumpkin spice.
The PSL has been around for a while, so maybe people are just temporarily branching out to try something new. Starbucks is widely credited with inventing the drink in 2003, though evidence suggests it had been around for a decade before that (and may have been invented by Tori Amos).
But even if McDonald’s is trying to move on, Starbucks is faithfully playing the hits. Right on cue, the coffee giant launched this year’s PSL in late August—surprise, surprise, it was hugely successful.
Read the full story on pumpkin spice’s fall here or via Yahoo! Finance here.
Photo by Craig Pattenaude on Unsplash
