By Alexis Dalton and Ella Kate McCord
If you haven’t already noticed, as of Thursday, August 22nd, Starbucks released its fall drink menu. This is an exciting time for Starbucks lovers around the world. Starbucks even claimed it to be the “unofficial start of fall.”
The fall menu debuted “earlier than ever this year,” according to a CBS News Article by Megan Cerullo. Though we are very excited to sip on our Pumpkin Cream Iced Chai lattes, it’s difficult to fully enjoy the fall flavors while it’s still 90 degrees and sunny in Atlanta. We can’t help but wonder, why do these “fall” drinks come out just after the middle of summer?
We think everyone has noticed how expensive coffee has been getting, and with other coffee brands, like Dunkin’, promoting deals and reward systems, Starbucks has become lower on people’s go-to coffee list.
Along with this, at-home coffee recipes have been going viral on social media – everyone is eager to create their Starbucks favorite at home for a fraction of the price. As two high school students, we only go to Starbucks for the exclusives, like the Starbucks refreshers, and default to making our own coffee at-home.
College counselor Mr. Albano told us how he would usually rather make his coffee at home. “It costs less, and I can make it how I want,” he said. If Mr. Albano is short on time in the morning, his go-to is an independent coffee shop. However, now that the fall menu is back, he finds himself at Starbucks more often. “I actually got my Pumpkin Cream Nitro Cold Brew the first week it came out,” he laughed.
While we were in the college counseling department, we also talked to Ms. Armato. “I’m not going out of my way to buy these drinks,” she told us. “I’m perfectly content with my simple espresso.”
Ms. Armato noted that it’s a smart marketing technique that is probably making companies like Starbucks a lot of money. Similarly, Mr. Albano said, “We live in a time where people just want things as early as possible.”
This early release of fall items is not exclusive to Starbucks. Megan Cerullo noted in her article “Starbucks’ fall pumpkin spice latte is launching earlier than ever in 2024” that stores such as Target began to sell Halloween decor in August. She says that “spikes in searches for Halloween-themed goods start spiking as early as July.” Releasing fall items earlier causes a sooner spike in their revenue.
However, recently our Starbucks spending has gone up due to the now exclusive fall menu. These drinks are particularly difficult to recreate at home, for the delicious fall flavors make the recipe far more complicated.
For math teacher Ms. Scott, she told us how she loves to treat herself to Starbucks on her days that start earlier than others. Going to Starbucks gives her “an incentive to get to school on time in the mornings.” She was very happy about the release of the fall drinks because her favorite is the Apple Crisp Shaken Espresso.
Around the Lovett community, there is some controversy about when it is “too early” for fall. Senior Mary Camp Newton believed that August is fall. “The second college football season starts (August 24th), it’s fall,” she explained. On the other hand, her triplet, Senior Sutherland Newton, thinks it’s weird that they are released in August because “it’s still summer.”
Other students agreed with Sutherland. Seniors Park Howell and Chelsea Daniels want it to feel like fall. “I go by when I see leaves falling and 60-degree weather with clouds in the sky,” Chelsea said. Park agrees with Chelsea, but contrary to Mary Camp, thinks fall starts after the NFL season starts (September 5th).
The official first day of fall is September 22nd, but according to botany expert Mr. Renolds, pumpkins are harvested between August and October. So perhaps it’s not so early for pumpkin stuff, after all?
Now that it’s finally starting to feel more like fall, we are looking forward to trying these fall-icious drinks!
