With baristas already slinging pumpkin spice lattes as of Thursday, Starbucks has ushered in the start of autumn an entire month early.
This year is the soonest the Seattle-based coffee chain has released its famous seasonal drink, and inflation-weary Americans are sure to notice its price. A hot, 16-ounce — that’s “grande” in Starbucks lingo — pumpkin spice latte now costs $6.50, according to average menu prices across several U.S. cities.
Since its creation in 2003, the pumpkin, cinnamon, nutmeg and clove-infused Starbucks latte has rocketed in popularity, spurring copycats, candles and offshoots like pumpkin cream cold brew and pumpkin-flavored chai. The drink has also sparked a lot of backlash, becoming a lightning rod of public disdain over seasonal creep, overconsumption and capitalism in general.
“I will be subject to its tyranny no longer,” Last Week Tonight host John Oliver proclaimed in a 2014 tirade against the drink. “It stops here.”
Except it didn’t. A decade later, the pumpkin spice latte lives on. Actually, it’s thriving.
The PSL, as fans refer to the drink, remains Starbucks’ most popular seasonal beverage, the company said in a news release Wednesday. And Starbucks relies on it to get people in the door: A week after PSL’s launch in 2019, store traffic increased 14%, according to the business-intelligence firm Placer.ai.
More broadly, Starbucks has begun to rely on major seasonal menu launches, saying that about 10% of sales come from seasonal items.
But will price-conscious Americans be willing to shell out over $6 for the (in)famous latte this year?
Pumpkin spice latte prices over the years
Money charted the cost of the PSL over the past two decades, finding that as the drink’s popularity exploded, so did its price.
While the pumpkin spice latte was created in 2003, it wasn’t released nationally until the following year.
Money’s earliest price estimate begins in 2005, when a hot, grande PSL cost $3.35.
Since 2005, Money estimates, the cost of that same autumn latte has risen approximately 94%, far outpacing inflation. By contrast, overall prices have increased about 57% from fall 2005 to today.
Here’s a closer look at prices for hot, grande-sized PSLs.
|
Year |
Typical PSL price |
|---|---|
|
2005 |
$3.35 |
|
2006 |
$3.53 |
|
2007 |
$3.71 |
|
2008 |
$3.89 |
|
2009 |
$4.07 |
|
2010 |
$4.25 |
|
2011 |
$4.50 |
|
2012 |
$4.50 |
|
2013 |
$4.55 |
|
2014 |
$4.75 |
|
2015 |
$4.75 |
|
2016 |
$5.25 |
|
2017 |
$5.25 |
|
2018 |
$5.25 |
|
2019 |
$5.45 |
|
2020 |
$5.65 |
|
2021 |
$5.72 |
|
2022 |
$5.95 |
|
2023 |
$6.25 |
|
2024 |
$6.50 |
Price estimates are based on two dozen sources, from archived news stories to customer receipts, reviews and Starbucks menu prices across various cities.
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