As fall approaches, a prime element of the season emerges, being the fall starbucks menu. Released on August 26th, as we painfully let go of the summer season, the menu rightfully returned, giving us something to be happy for this fall. With the dread of schoolwork piling up again, the Starbucks fall menu brings us some happiness, and appreciation for the season of back to school. With that, today we will be ranking the majority of the fall Starbucks menu, based on our culinary palates.
Before we begin our review, we’d like to clarify that we are ranking the drinks of the Starbucks fall menu, because in reality, it’s what people actually care about.
Firstly, the Pumpkin Spice Frappuccino gets crowned as our winner. It is a fan favorite for many reasons. The frappuccino is a perfect blend of sweet pumpkin spice, and the bitter taste of coffee that many love. It is the perfect thing to drink if you want a sweet treat, as well as your caffeine fix for the day. The way all of the ingredients are mixed together, creates a very smooth texture. The sprinkled cinnamon on the top of the whipped cream is the perfect touch, just bringing this drink closer to perfection.
If you are not a fan of sweet drinks, this frappuccino is probably not for you. As delicious as it is, it does contain an insane amount of sugar and flavoring. Overall, the pumpkin spice frappuccino is the perfect drink to get you through the fall semester, it will change your perspective on fall for the better.
In close second place, we have the iced pumpkin spice latte. Not to be confused with the warm pumpkin spice latte, which is utterly disgusting, the iced pumpkin spice latte can bring you joy in the worst times. While it is pretty sweet, it isn’t as sweet as the frappuccino, so it is good for people who enjoy a sweet treat, but don’t like it to be overly sweet. It is the perfect combination of a sugary drink, and your regular morning coffee. You have the option to drink it with or without whipped cream, but I think that the sweetness of the whipped cream with the cinnamon on top makes the drink so much better. On one hand, to us, this drink is a delicious combination of pumpkin flavoring and coffee, but obviously other people may have other opinions. Coffee is something that you either love or hate, so to the many people who aren’t the biggest fan of coffee, this drink probably isn’t the right fit. It may seem like the content of the coffee makes it far too bitter. In spite of that, we still think that this is one of the best Starbucks drinks overall, and it is always something to look forward to in the dark times of fall.
The iced pumpkin chai places 3rd on our list for many reasons. It is undoubtedly an amazing drink, having the elements of chai and pumpkin blended, forming a decadent sweet treat. The pumpkin foam is an additional bonus factor, placing it in our top 3. However, it did not surpass the two other drinks for one reason. If you like chai, you’re bound to enjoy this drink. On the other hand, if you’re not a chai enthusiast, you’re bound to hate it. This drink is simply chai with a little pinch of pumpkin in it, and has no major difference in comparison to a regular chai from Starbucks. Essentially, if you like chai and enjoy minor changes in taste, you’ll like this drink. But if you are a person who expects and endorses major change, while also disliking chai, there is a 99.99% chance that you won’t get that first sip feeling.
The pecan cortado gets 4th place. There isn’t much to say about the drink at all, in all honesty. I felt it was very boring, and kind of just tasted like warm milk with vanilla extract in it. It was pretty bland and boring, so I threw it out before I was even half way done. And don’t get me started on how bad this made my stomach hurt. About an hour after drinking this, the right side of my stomach was pierced with an immense pain, like no other, in the middle of a test. Huge no. If you’re reading this, you might wonder why I didn’t place this drink last, after all my criticisms. But nothing will ever be comparatively bad as the drink in last place.
In the respectful last place, we rightfully place the WARM pumpkin spice latte here. If you order this drink normally, being iced or at room temperature, there’s nothing wrong with that. But if you order this drink warm, and genuinely enjoy it, you’re either 60 years old or just insane. Somehow, when the temperature of this drink becomes warm, it loses its taste and becomes disgusting. The drink tastes more like soap the more warm it is, and is simply unenjoyable when it’s warm. Not to mention, you’ll have to wait 20 minutes minimum before drinking in order to prevent 3rd degree burns and a loss of sensory in your taste buds. So many negatives of this drink outweigh the slim positives, which is why we rank it as last place. Please don’t get this.
