Pumpkin spice, the supposed basic girl drink of choice.
This holds mostly true if you believe stereotypes. But, regardless of whether or not you’re “basic,” pumpkin spice-flavored drinks are really good if you like everything associated with the pumpkin flavor.
Pumpkin spice doesn’t actually taste like pumpkin — it’s all the spices people usually cook with pumpkin.
A Chicagoist writer, Melissa McEwen, tells us that pumpkin spice started in the 1950s when McCormick start selling combinations of spices and called them “pumpkin pie spice” and then simply “pumpkin spice.” These combinations were composed of “cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, allspice and sulfating agents.”
Then it started popping up in candles and, eventually, in coffee shops in the late 1990s.
At some point, Starbucks kicked up a really good ad campaign and pumpkin spice became a staple of seasonal coffee.
That’s the basis of this craze, just like wedding rings weren’t really a popular thing until De Beers Jewelry decided it wanted them to be.
But, according to a Wall Street Journal writer, Lisa Fleisher says that pumpkin spice almost didn’t make the menu.
The development of pumpkin spice-flavored drinks began 12 years ago, and, originally, it was met with a blasé review. For some reason, the product developers for Starbucks decided that pumpkin spice had potential.
And here we are.
I, personally, was drinking pumpkin spice frappucinos a few years before they really caught on and got popular at a local coffee shop with the flavored syrup. I fell in love there.
Pumpkin spice-flavored coffee is extremely versatile too. You can get it hot, cold and frozen, and it will deliver the same iconic taste (shout-out to all of those Starbucks baristas who know what they’re doing).
But why is it so wrong for a ton of people (who just happen to be female) to love pumpkin spice? A lot of people love puppies, and they don’t catch flak for that.
Would it be OK if a ton of men professed their love for it? That delves into a much deeper conversation about how society does this and that, but it’s something to consider.
If someone judges me for loving pumpkin spice coffee, that’s fine — but we shouldn’t judge people based on what they like to drink.
It’s like pop music—it’s popular for a reason, and the fact that a ton of women enjoy it doesn’t make it any less awesome.
Give these “basic” girls a break; most people who enjoy coffee can become irritable when they don’t have their daily morning cup. For most people, it’s a fall staple, and they’ll become miniature Godzillas if they don’t get their pumpkin spice.
And if you haven’t tried it yet, you should. It’ll probably blow your mind.
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