I realize it's a little sad of me to mark the change of the seasons by the menu of a multi-national corporate giant. But I do, so sue me! The Starbucks pumpkin spice latte is one of the earliest harbingers of fall. This year it hit my area while we were still having a late summer heat wave, which was a little surprising. But today was our first properly cold and rainy fall day, so I skipped out on work for a while and drove into town to get my first one of the season.
The pumpkin spice latte is followed by the gingerbread latte that hits around Thanksgiving. I don't care for the gingerbread latte nearly as much, even though they are practically identical. The pumpkin spice latte has a better balance between spicy and sweet, while the gingerbread latte is a little too "artificial" tasting for my liking.
There's a recipe making the rounds in blogdom today, for you to make your own pumpkin spice latte. I appreciate the effort, but I won't be doing this any time soon. For one thing, lattes are for me a special budgetary treat. I buy one a month, at the very most. It's not just my daily coffee drink. At that rate, I can afford the extra 50 cents or whatever to have Starbucks make it for me.
For another thing, as with most other "make it yourself at home" recipes, it isn't really the same thing. It contains no HFCS, and is vegan, both of which are important considerations to the recipe writer. (Not to me personally, but I respect that point of view.)
The recipe begins with brewed coffee, which is all kinds of wrong if you want a latte. And it includes a considerable amount of actual pumpkin puree, which sort of makes me gag a little to contemplate. (I have a "thing" about food textures, and pumpkin puree whipped into heated milk is definitely on the wrong side of the line.)
More prosaically, you can of course simply buy a bottle of Torani pumpkin spice syrup, since that's pretty much what Starbucks is using.
The pumpkin spice latte is also causing some controversy on another blog, where commenters are vigorously debating whether or not it's "unmanly" for a man to order one. Personally I have much better things to do than police the boundaries of someone else's masculinity. I say if you want a pumpkin spice latte, then you should order one, and to hell what anyone else says!
The pumpkin spice latte is followed by the gingerbread latte that hits around Thanksgiving. I don't care for the gingerbread latte nearly as much, even though they are practically identical. The pumpkin spice latte has a better balance between spicy and sweet, while the gingerbread latte is a little too "artificial" tasting for my liking.
There's a recipe making the rounds in blogdom today, for you to make your own pumpkin spice latte. I appreciate the effort, but I won't be doing this any time soon. For one thing, lattes are for me a special budgetary treat. I buy one a month, at the very most. It's not just my daily coffee drink. At that rate, I can afford the extra 50 cents or whatever to have Starbucks make it for me.
For another thing, as with most other "make it yourself at home" recipes, it isn't really the same thing. It contains no HFCS, and is vegan, both of which are important considerations to the recipe writer. (Not to me personally, but I respect that point of view.)
The recipe begins with brewed coffee, which is all kinds of wrong if you want a latte. And it includes a considerable amount of actual pumpkin puree, which sort of makes me gag a little to contemplate. (I have a "thing" about food textures, and pumpkin puree whipped into heated milk is definitely on the wrong side of the line.)
More prosaically, you can of course simply buy a bottle of Torani pumpkin spice syrup, since that's pretty much what Starbucks is using.
The pumpkin spice latte is also causing some controversy on another blog, where commenters are vigorously debating whether or not it's "unmanly" for a man to order one. Personally I have much better things to do than police the boundaries of someone else's masculinity. I say if you want a pumpkin spice latte, then you should order one, and to hell what anyone else says!