The Howling Reviews: Pump(k)in’ up the spice

When we were younger, we used to look up to the iconic “Starbucks PSL” arriving each year. Perhaps the burden of age and college apps have dampened our opinions, but this was fairly mediocre. There was a lack of pumpkin flavor for the amount of milk put in, the whipped cream was watery and sparse and the cinnamon was too heavily concentrated at the top. However, something about the Starbucks cup...

Panera claims that “Cinnamon Crunch trumps pumpkin,” hence their decision to exclude pumpkin drinks from their menu and promote their new latte, inspired by the Cinnamon Crunch Bagel instead. But we’re not huge fans. Besides being essentially just watered down coffee, there wasn’t a smidge of cinnamon or fall flavor in sight. The drink came in a large plastic cup, the same one used for thei...

At this point, call us the Fall Grinch, but we weren’t huge on this one either. There’s definitely a consistent watered-down coffee theme with these fall menu items, and Peet’s is quite the conformist in this regard. We barely tasted any of the pumpkin, and instead were greeted with a punching wave of sweetness mixed with bitter nutty flavor from the espresso. The presentation was quite nice...