Over the last decade or so, fall has become an excuse to embrace pumpkin spiced-everything, but the original signal of the season, Starbucks' Pumpkin Spice Latte, continues to reign supreme — and it’s officially making its triumphant return Tuesday.
Starbucks introduced the Pumpkin Spice Latte in 2003, and has since sold more than 350 million worldwide, making it the company's most popular seasonal release.
This season, we saw pumpkin items launching earlier than ever, with everything from cereal to candy hitting store shelves by early August. However, Starbucks has been pretty secretive about when its signature PSL would actually be making it to our local baristas.
But this year, the cat was let out of the bag pretty quickly.
A few weeks ago, Starbucks baristas took to Reddit, leaking that the pumpkin spice flavored syrup had already arrived in stores. It seems many baristas actually dread the coming season, with threads titled “It’s coming. God help us all,” discussing the onslaught of orders, with comments like “We, who are about to die, salute you.”
Still, even if the baristas aren't all that happy about it, social media is filled with happy customers who managed to snag the original fall-flavored latte a few days ahead of the drink's official launch.
But those posts, along with Starbucks' weekend-long livestream celebrating the drink's return, led to some confusion as to whether the drink was actually back in stores
Many disgruntled PSL fans took to the brand's official social media accounts to lodge complaints.
But fret not, coffee devotees, Starbucks' Pumpkin Spice Latte is officially back now and that means fall is here.
So what do seasonal latte lovers have to look forward to now? Starbucks' red cup season is just a few months away, we suppose.