Fall 2020 Special: Pumpkin Spice Grubbin'!

 I'm reviving the pumpkin spice special because we need some holiday cheer with all the craziness going on. 

Everyone knows that come autumn, allll the pumpkin spice goodies roll in. They sweep the grocery store shelves, they line the offers in your spam folder, and if you're a foodie like me, a lot of them make their way into your mouth. Here's a list of everything pumpkin I could get my hands on. First and foremost...

Battle of the Pumpkin Spice Lattes!

Starbucks: 5/5; 2.5/5 (not pictured); 5/5

The basic bitch of fall specialty products, the Starbucks pumpkin spice latte. This started it all. And I have to say... it's actually really good. They're in the lead for good reason. There isn't an overpowering sweetness and it's got just a hint of spice, but you can still taste the signature Starbucks flavor. Now available in a bottle.

My local 'bucks had a special pumpkin chai latte on the menu with coconut. I guess this was a bad choice. It tastes mostly like... coconut. There's a hint of chai and pumpkin flavor but it's mostly coconut. So without the coconut, it would've probably just tasted like sweet milk. I mean it tastes okay if you want a sweet beverage. That's about it. Their actual chai mix leaves a bad aftertaste so avoid anything Chai from Starbucks. I returned it to be honest. Bad.

They also have a new pumpkin cold brew. It's pretty good. It's got a much stronger coffee taste than the regular latte and it's not as sweet. It's just a pumpkin-flavored creamy coffee essentially.

Dutch Bros.: 4/5; 3/5

Dutch Bros. emphasizes their coffee more than their pumpkin. The pumpkin breve is basically a Dutch Bros. latte with a hint of pumpkin flavor but no spice. Dutch Bros. makes some mad decent coffee so it's not bad, just probably not what you're looking for if you're a fan of pumpkin spice.

The pumpkin chai is so sweet though. I don't know if it's the chai or what but, though there was a pumpkin undertone, it was just overwhelmingly sweet.

Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf: 4/5; 4.5/5

Coffee Bean's pumpkin cold brew has a rich pumpkin flavor and is just delicious. No spice detected, but still a solid latte for fall.

Their pumpkin chai latte is about the same but with a chai base. I prefer it to the regular, it's a little spicier thanks to the chai.

Dunkin' Donuts: 4/5

Dunkin' just debuted a new cinnamon sugar pumpkin signature latte this year. I'm not sure if this is what I got because I don't taste any cinnamon sugar. It's just a regular old pumpkin latte. Tastes fine, just like a sweet latte with the slightest hint of pumpkin flavoring. It's a contender but nothing outstanding.

7-Eleven: 3/5

7-Eleven's pumpkin spice latte is by far the worst of the chains. It doesn't even taste like pumpkin. Just a regular sweetened latte. It almost tastes like almond milk or something. It doesn't taste bad but it's not pumpkin that's for sure. It's a hot beverage but I put mine over ice.

Peet's: 4.5/5; 5/5

I didn't realize how expensive Peet's was. It's almost five bucks for each of these! The pumpkin latte isn't pumpkin spice, though they put a little sprinkle of cinnamon on top. It's got a rich pumpkin flavor to it but as I said, it's not spicy. And it's not overly sweet, thank goodness.

The iced chai pumpkin latte though. This is amazing. Their chai mix is awesome. Not too spicy, just the perfect amount of chai. With the pumpkin it's just heavenly.

am/pm: 4/5

Pumpkin spice coffee
Sold as a hot beverage but I made mine iced. Hey this ain't bad for a gas station. Not really any hint of spice but their signature coffee is solid and it's not too sweet.

Breakfast incoming...

Battle of the pumpkin pancakes, commence!

Denny's: 4/5

I tried Denny's pancakes again this year and they just weren't up to snuff. They didn't seem as fluffy and the flavor just didn't pop. No sprinkling with cinnamon sugar or cinnamon butter on top this year either. COVID even has to crap on pumpkin pancake season. Sad.

IHOP: 3/5

Alright Denny's, you win this round. IHOP's pancakes taste like their regular pancakes with pumpkin added to the batter and not much more. There's no spice to them. They're good, for sure, but not as good as they could be. They also aren't as fluffy as Denny's pancakes.

Black Bear Diner: 4.5/5

Okay so these pumpkin pancakes don't have too much of a pumpkin flavor. But damn if they aren't major fucking delicious. They come with cinnamon butter which is basically just melted brown sugar. Definitely put that on top. Essentially these are just sweet cream pancakes with special butter. But they're huge, they're fluffy, and they're possibly better than Denny's original pancakes. 4.5 only because the lack of pumpkin flavor.

Battle of the pumpkin doughnuts, ding ding ding!

Krispy Kreme Doughnuts: 3.5/5; 4.5/5

The original glazed has the same glazing as the original donut but the actual dough part has a bit of sweet pumpkin spice to it. Only a slight difference/improvement in flavor compared to the original. The pumpkin spice cake is much better. Super sweet and super good. A little too sweet though. Left an aftertaste in my mouth and not a good one. This is basically a dense mini pumpkin coffee cake. Dessert for breakfast, if you will.

Dunkin' Donuts: 5/5

Dunkin' offers their pumpkin doughnuts as holes (saves a few calories) so I tried just a few bites of them. Good stuff. They're dense like the Krispy Kreme with a light glaze, and they've got a solid pumpkin flavor with a hint of spice. Not too sweet.

Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf: 5/5

Breakfast on this particular occasion was a pumpkin donut with my pumpkin latte. Overload much? This donut is amazing. It puts Krispy Kreme and Dunkin' Donuts to shame. It's fresh, crisp, cakey but not too dense, and full of autumnal spices.

More pumpkin-y goodness...

Baskin Robbins

Pumpkin cheesecake ice cream: 4.5/5
It's got the typical sweet pumpkin flavor you'd find in a pumpkin frozen yogurt, not too much spice. The cheesecake portion is only mildly cheesy. What makes this really stand out though is those delicious pieces of ginger snaps.

Coffee Bean

Pumpkin chocolate muffin: 5/5
Very moist, and pumpkin and chocolate is always a winning combo. I would've liked a little more pumpkin spiciness but still, delicious.

Starbucks

Pumpkin bread: 3.5/5
I love a good dessert bread. Technically this one's available year-round but I thought I'd review it anyway. It's a dense loaf with a nice pumpkin flavor and some seeds on top, but there wasn't much spice to it. No flavor beyond said pumpkin. For the calories it wasn't really worth it.

Pumpkin cream cheese muffin: 5/5
The cream cheese in this makes it. It's sweet cream cheese and tastes like softened cheesecake. The rest of it has a nice spicy pumpkin flavor, not too sweet, with a few nuts mixed in.

Pumpkin scone: 4.5/5
I missed this last year but caught it this year! It's a soft scone, not crisp. Like my friend said it's more like a muffin top. It's got a sweet pumpkin flavor, somewhat like pumpkin bread but not as rich. The frosting is very mildly spiced with pumpkin spice and complements the scone.

Panera

Pumpkin muffie/muffin: 5/5
Wow. Panera did it. They managed to make a muffin taste almost exactly like pumpkin pie. I don't know how to describe it but once you try it, you'll agree. Topped with plenty cinnamon powdered sugar.

Noah's Bagels/Einstein's Bagels

Pumpkin walnut crunch bagel: 5/5
This was bomb diggity yo. The cinnamon walnut crunch obviously being the best part, but the pumpkin was still good. Just not as strong.

Pumpkin shmear: 4/5
A decent pumpkin-flavored cream cheese, on the sweet side though. Combined with the bagel it made it incredibly sweet. I would've liked to see some of that sweetness swapped for spice, of which there wasn't any.

Pumpkin bagel: 3/5
Pretty much a standard bagel with some pumpkin flavoring to it. Nothing special. It's not sweet, just has a hint of pumpkin spice to it. Works if you're not overwhelmingly into pumpkin but just want a hint of fall flavor.

Dunkin' Donuts

Pumpkin muffin: 5/5
This tastes like pumpkin pie. It's delicious. It's so moist and fresh and yeah, it's just great. The icing on top is literally the icing on the cake (muffins are basically cake, lezbeehonest).

See's Candies

Pumpkin spice lollipop: 2/5
Womp. I had a feeling this wouldn't be good. It tastes like butterscotch basically with an ever-so-slight pumpkin tint to it. No spice detected whatsoever. False advertising I say! Well at least I got some good actual chocolate on the visit. This went in the trash.

McDonald's

Pumpkin pie: 4.5/5
Not as good as a regular pie but still damn good. When they serve it warm the pumpkin cream filling just melts in your mouth. The crust has some cinnamon spice on it, making it very autumn-esque.

Dairy Queen: missed the pumpkin shake! Next year I shall update this and be sure to try it. Let me know how it was in the comments if you tried it.

am/pm

Pumpkin spice muffin: 4/5
Can't beat it for a buck. This is pretty good. I should give higher for the price-to-quality ratio to be honest but I'll try to be objective. Sugar granules on top and a crispy muffin top with a moist interior, all things muffins should have and these have got it. This has a decent amount of spice in it too.

Pumpkin cookies: 4.5/5
They're sweet, they're pumpkin-flavored, they've got little chunks of ...something in them. (cream cheese?) They've got a little spice to them. And they're 33 cents apiece. Delish.

Whole Foods

Pumpkin madeleine: 5/5
A simple madeleine made delicious with yummy pumpkin pie spice.

Pumpkin shuffle: 5/5
I don't know what a shuffle is but I like it. A wonderful creation, this tastes like a frosted carrot cake but with pumpkin, and gooey caramel layered on top.

Sprouts

Pumpkin muffin: 3/5
It is from a grocery store so I guess I shouldn't expect much, but for a pumpkin muffin I would've liked a bit of spice at least. This one just tasted like pumpkin. It's moister than I'd like. I prefer crisp muffin tops.