Pumpkin Spice

It was her first day working at Dunkin Donuts. Senior Valeria Terrazas was excited to start making lattes the moment she walked in. When business was slow, she got creative, and decided to try and make her first Pumpkin Spice Latte.

“I just got a job at Dunkin Donuts, and I was at a meeting, and I looked at all the syrups, and I saw pumpkin spice and I decided to try and make it myself. I really enjoyed it, but I can’t compare to Starbucks’ since I haven’t tried theirs,” Terrazas said.

The Pumpkin Spice latte was first developed in 2003 by Starbucks to expand their winter menu. Since then, pumpkin spice has been associated with the cooler temperatures and color changing leaves of fall. Today, pumpkin spice is seen in everything, from candles, to cakes, to perfumes, to body washes.

Pumpkin spice contains ginger, nutmeg, allspice, cloves, and cinnamon- an ingredient junior Rose Adams dislikes.

“Whenever I first tried it two years ago, I had really high expectations for it because everyone was obsessed with it. But whenever I tried it, it just tasted like cinnamon and coffee. I wasn’t disgusted, but I don’t like cinnamon, so that’s a really large contributing factor,” Adams said.

Although sophomore Vanessa Almazan has never tried pumpkin spice, she isn’t interested due to its widespread popularity.

“I have not tried pumpkin spice because it really never appealed to me. It’s such a big thing. I’m not a fan of following the trends,” Almazan said.

However, Almazan admits that she might like the drink due to her love of pumpkin pie.

“I am willing to try it, but I guess I haven’t had the chance to. I like pumpkin pie, so I think I might like pumpkin spice,” Almazan said.

But, has pumpkin spice gone too far? Adams believes that people need to find their own personal trends.

“Whatever you like yourself I think should be trending for you, but not for anyone else,” Adams said.

The craze for pumpkin spice will always continue because of its high demand every fall, and Terrazas recognizes this.

“Sometimes, I feel like companies are too over the top with pumpkin spice, but it also makes sense because they want their profits,” Terrazas said.

The pumpkin spice train is on a roll, and it looks like it will continue forward into the future until consumer interests change.