With the turning of the season comes fuzzy sweaters, cozy nights and a consistent stream of pumpkin-related paraphernalia lining shelves and filling up Instagram feeds.
There are two prominent coffee sources on campus for students to get their daily holiday caffeine fix: Starbucks and The Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf. We set out to find which one delivered the better fall favorite.
For many, pumpkin spice lattes, or the “PSL,” as some coffee lovers like to say, are the marking of the beginning of fall.
“We actually have a lot of customers that come back yearly just for our pumpkin spice lattes. Every year we always get excited customers that are always like, ‘Do you guys have the pumpkin yet?’ especially when school starts,” said Ginny Moua, shift supervisor at The Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf.
Every year, people either wildly rave over the drink or reject the fad completely. As a PSL virgin, I wanted to see what the hype was all about.
I didn’t know much about the drink except that it was very popular and was some variation of a pumpkin flavored coffee.
Venturing out on a warm fall day in Southern California, I had my notebook and phone ready to capture my first PSL. I got in line and ordered a 12-ounce coffee from each location and compared both for taste, smell and price.
“I really like seasonal drinks and I really like fall, and it just gets me in the mood of everything that goes on throughout school,” said Isabel Herrera, a Starbucks barista.
Starbucks uses three pumps of pumpkin spice syrup, one shot of espresso, steamed two percent milk and a sprinkle of pumpkin spice powder. Coffee Bean uses one pump of pumpkin syrup, one shot of espresso, six ounces of vanilla powder and steamed nonfat milk with pumpkin sugar crystals. Both add whipped cream upon request, which I happily asked for.
The way they were made, I thought I was going to love Coffee Bean’s more. I mean, who can resist pumpkin sugar crystals? If I had to choose one based purely on appearance, it would be Coffee Bean’s.
In terms of smell, Starbucks’ PSL smells of vanilla coffee with a hint of spice, while Coffee Bean’s smells more like coffee with a hint of pumpkin. The Starbucks latte wins this category as it was a delicious greeting to my first pumpkin spice experience.
Both drinks were very sweet — too sweet for my taste — but Coffee Bean produced a more cavity-inducing punch. Coffee Bean had a slightly bitter taste. I don’t know if it was the pumpkin syrup or the kind of espresso they used.
I’m not much of a coffee person, so the fact that I could barely taste the shot of espresso in Starbucks’ drink is a positive.
“It’s a really nice kick and it really does remind you of fall, as cheesy as that sounds, you have a harvest feel to it,” Moua said.
Now onto what most college students want to know: the price. At Starbucks, it costs $4.75 with a student ID discount while the Coffee Bean on campus is $4. There is no student discount for Coffee Bean on campus because they are not owned by the University Student Union.
I would most likely never order a pumpkin spice latte again because it was kind of like drinking pure syrup. But if I had to choose, I would go with Starbucks. Although very sweet, Starbucks was at least enjoyable when taken in sips.
Rather than drinking pumpkins, I will stick to kicking off the fall by carving them.