I hate to break it to you, but your pumpkin spice might be losing its sheen.
And I have data to back it up.
Google compared searches for pumpkin spice, matcha and chai lattes in every state at the end of August.
In 2024, pumpkin spice was the most searched in 48 states.
In 2025, 32. This year? Just 3. Matcha took 29 and chai took 18.
It’s tempting to call that a decline. But I beg to differ. The PSL isn’t losing its relevance. It’s losing its monopoly on fall.
Back in 2003, when Starbucks launched the PSL, it was an odd bet. Nobody had heard of it much.
The drink didn’t even contain real pumpkin until 2015. But that didn’t matter, because the product was never really the pumpkin. The scarcity was the product. A drink that shows up for a few months and then disappears gives people something to wait for.
Over the years, the wait became a seasonal ritual.
Leaves change color, sweaters come out, the PSL comes back, and fall has officially begun. Starbucks leaned into this openly and built a real asset around it. Not just a recipe.
Then it was everywhere.
In every snack aisle, every candle aisle, even in trash bags.
Pumpkin-spiced products grew 234% after 2008 (Smithsonian Magazine).
But copying wasn’t the issue. Saturation was.
When a flavor is everywhere, it stops feeling special. It becomes the background rather than the central character.
You may think that since the PSL isn’t the novelty anymore, Starbucks might abandon it. It’s quite the opposite.
Starbucks is building an empire around it.
Look at this year’s fall menu: Pumpkin Spice Chai, Iced Pumpkin Cream Matcha…
Notice the pattern. Pumpkin gets paired with its rivals - the flavors that make people curious.
That’s exactly the strategy. It may be cringe, but it gets an eyebrow raised. Starbucks realizes that when you own a seasonal ritual, you don’t throw it away.
You expand the world around it.
And how do you do this? The ritual makes you recognizable. The reinvention makes you relevant. I learnt this from my five-year-old…
Every Sunday, she wants the same breakfast: waffles.
But last month, she asked me to change the shape. She wanted a cat, with blueberries for eyes and strawberries for ears. Then she asked for it again the next weekend.
And the next. Same waffles, new shape, and suddenly it was her favorite all over again. You need both…
Keep the ritual the same. Change what surrounds it.
“Transform it before it becomes boring” (in my five-year-old’s words).
So, the flavor isn’t over. The monopoly is. The PSL will be back next August, and plenty of us will still line up for it.
The brands that last don’t keep inventing something new.
They know what people already love, and find new ways to make them fall for it again. Pumpkin spice isn’t going anywhere. It just has to learn how to share the spotlight.
(After all, didn’t you think about getting one while reading this?)
with love and a chai latte,
@nehhasaraiya
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The brands that last don’t keep inventing something new. They know what people already love, and find new ways to make them fall for it again. The pumpkin spice craze and Starbucks offer a lesson in keeping the ritual and expanding the world around it.