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Across much of the United States, signs of autumn arrive on a cool breeze. Hay rides and flannel shirts lie on the horizon. Soon, the leaves will change and crunch underfoot.
Here, where summer heat continues into September and beyond, the mood must be manifested. The arrival of football and a new school year aren’t signals to set your calendar by.
We need pumpkin spice to set the vibe.
The great debate is whether the flavor is still “hot” for fall, but local coffee shops aren’t risking it. Across the region, brewers have a beverage or two featuring a pump of pumpkin and the winning combination — or a variation — of cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, allspice and cloves.
The Human Bean, 1124 E. Nolana Ave. in McAllen, launched its specialty drinks on Aug. 14.
“We started pretty early,” said Olivia V. Garcia, franchise owner. “We give it several weeks, so pumpkin can have its moment to shine.”
The shop adds a twist to its standard menu items to create the Pumpkin Snowy, which can served iced, hot or blended and includes white chocolate, pumpkin, whipped cream and cinnamon sprinkles, and its Pumpkin Java Chip, a blended drink including pumpkin drizzle and whipped cream.
“I do think the taste of pumpkin brings happiness to people, because we don’t have that specific fall weather,” Garcia said. ‘I feel like we celebrate it a little bit earlier so we can have a little bit of the fall feeling.”
Reserva Coffee Roasters has a Dulce de Calabaza Latte, featuring Dulce de Leche, pumpkin syrup, vanilla ice cream base, whipped cream and served hot, cold or blended.
At Black Honey Coffee Company, customers can pick up the Pumpkin Spice Cajeta to create an autumn mood.
Starbucks created its first pumpkin spice latte in 2003, according to The Food Institute, taking credit for a craze more than 20 years in the making. The publication Food and Wine says it has become the Seattle coffee chain’s best-selling seasonal beverage, selling more than 424 million in the United States throughout two decades.
But pumpkin spice has existed for 3,500 years, the History Channel retorts, dating back to ancient Rome and discovered on ancient pottery shards in Indonesia.
A 2021 study of “Why we love pumpkin spice” by two Johns Hopkins Kreiger School of Arts & Sciences perception researchers says it’s sensory, as reported in its online magazine.
“Pumpkin spice aromas emerge in the fall in shops and cafes, coinciding with the arrival of colorful leaves, family gatherings, and back-to-school bustle. The association that the smell has with the season in our memories allows it to powerfully evoke the refreshing feelings of fall,” said Jason Fischer, assistant professor of psychological and brain sciences.
“Once someone tells you it’s pumpkin spice, it will seem even more pumpkin spicy,” said Sarah Cormie, doctoral candidate studying human olfactory perception. “Labels prompt us to reconceptualize an odor — to change how we think about and experience it.”
“I think that starting the pumpkin spice — in our case, snowy or java chip — it just brings that feeling of fall,” Garcia said. “We get into that cozy, yummy family feeling. I think it’s the feeling or the warmth of the pumpkin spice. It makes me feel like the holidays are coming.”
