For those in the northern hemisphere, the days are getting shorter, which means only one thing: Cue pumpkin spice latte talk.
This year’s “breaking” PSL news: Starbucks’ infamous, sickly sweet espresso drink will soon contain real bits of pumpkin.
The drink, which has its own hashtag and over 82,000 followers on Twitter, has not gotten a recipe update since it sprang frothily forth into the world 12 years ago. But on Aug. 17, the drink finally said goodbye to its caramel coloring and hello to real pumpkin. The PSL’s “pumpkin spice flavored sauce,” which includes sugar, condensed skim milk, and preservatives, will also contain pumpkin puree.
In 2013 Peter Dukes, director of espresso Americas for Starbucks and one of the founding PSL developers said that Starbucks wouldn’t be changing the recipe anytime soon. As he told the Wall Street Journal, “If we changed the recipe now, we’d have a revolt.”
But in the last year the company’s most popular seasonal drink has received a bit of a backlash—for being both chock full of sugar and totally devoid of pumpkin—and it seems the coffee giant is listening. Starbucks hasn’t yet announced when the new recipe will hit stores and a representative from the company said the drink will still be 300 calories.