Pumpkin spice: overrated or underrated?

Anna Dosey, 11

​The other day I took it upon myself to try 3 different pumpkin spice items on the Starbucks menu. I got the Pumpkin Spice Frappuccino, Pumpkin Spice Chai Latte and Pumpkin bread. To start off this review, let’s talk about the Pumpkin bread. I have always been a fan of pumpkin bread. Any kind of pumpkin food, I like. Pumpkin rolls, pumpkin scones, pumpkin cookies, pumpkin bread, you name it. I would probably rate Starbucks’ pumpkin bread a solid 8/10. I think there is always room for improvement, and I wasn’t a fan of the assortment of nuts around the edges. 

Next was the frappuccino. My first thought was that it was amazing. In those first few sips, I was convinced it was the best drink Starbucks had to offer. I quickly realized my straw was not all the way submerged into the drink, so I had just been sipping on a little bit of the frappuccino; mostly the white cream and pumpkin sprinkles. I took a good sip of the actual drink and couldn’t decide what I thought of it. It tasted fine but left a weird aftertaste that I can still remember the aroma of. That drink was a solid 6/10. 

Lastly came the pumpkin spice chai latte. Possibly one of the grossest drinks I have ever had. No way this drink would get more than like a 2/10. I maybe can see how very few people would like it, but it made me want to vomit drinking it. It was a hot drink that tasted like cold tea would, but with a strong pumpkin flavor. I could not drink more than one sip of it and had to throw it away afterwards. Big waste of 4 dollars. 

Overall, I believe that Pumpkin Spice is overrated. While the smell of it in a candle may be deceiving, the taste is not worth being the whole image of fall. Fall deserves better than that.