A Historical Slice Of Pumpkin Spice

“I’ll take a Pumpkin Spice Matcha, 16 ounces, iced, and with almond milk.”

This sentence would never leave my mouth at any other point in the year. But somehow I found myself at Kozy, ordering the newest addition to their menu. Pumpkin spice was back and I was falling at its feet yet again. Whether you love it or couldn’t care less, the flavor of Pumpkin spice infiltrates the air as soon as the leaves begin to change color… or as soon as they’re supposed to change color. 

As I sipped my matcha and tasted absolutely no pumpkin spice, I stirred and sipped again- wondering about the origins of this consistent flavor. The slightly cooler air, the sudden rise in loungewear and infiltration of Uggs around Isla Vista incited whispers in my ear full of questions about the taste on my tongue. Sure, there were other tastes that served as foundational pillars of the fall. Apple, cinnamon, cranberry, maybe even salted caramel. However, these flavors can still be appropriately consumed at other parts of the year.

Pumpkin spice in the summer? No way. In the winter? You’re too late to the trend. In the spring? Now you’re just being weird with it. Pumpkin spice is exclusive to the fall, but how did it become this way?

The Pumpkin Spice Origin Story 

Believe it or not, the original flavor of pumpkin spice didn’t even contain pumpkin. The whole concept of pumpkin spice referred to other spices that were used to complement the flavor of pumpkins. This included cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and clove. These specific spices mostly came from the same trade routes in proximity to Southeast Asia by what is commonly referred to as the “Spice Islands” or the Maluku Islands. After the Ottoman Empire took control of the spice trade in 1453, European nations sought new methods to get ahead. 

It was a battle between the Portuguese, British, Spanish, and Dutch, all hoping to reign supreme in controlling the Spice Islands. Eventually, the Dutch would win, implementing their control through the means of colonization, genocide, and enslavement. At first, spices were mainly accessible to European aristocrats, but soon became widespread and costs lowered. 

However, when spices were more expensive, their use was limited to special occasions. Europeans saved food of greater cost for larger feasts, typically on holidays. When Christmas would roll around, so would the spices. That is widely considered where the association between these spices and the cold end of year began. 

Pumpkin spice, but hold the pumpkin!

In the 20th century, the idea of grinding each individual spice associated with the modernly known pumpkin spice seemed time-consuming. Additionally, purchasing each spice separately and ensuring it all blended well in a dish could turn consumers away from purchasing at all. 

Producers wanted to make baking easier and widen the audience who would feel inclined and capable of purchasing all these spices. With that in mind, Thompson & Taylor, a spice company from the 1900s, packaged all the different spices together and put what they called the “Pumpkin Pie Spice” on the market in 1930. This company focused on the convenience and consistency of their product, ensuring that making pumpkin pies would be easier and always taste the same. 

As predicted, the convenience of buying multiple spices in one container was a hit. Soon after, other spice companies caught on. Such a rise led to a flood of advertisements in newspapers around the fall, leading to a shortening from “Pumpkin Pie Spice” to “Pumpkin Spice.” 

After about five years, newspaper ads morphed from marketing the spice itself to marketing recipes incorporating the flavor. Year after year of “Pumpkin Spice Cake” and “Pumpkin Spice Cream” soon secured pumpkin spice a spot as a flavor for the ages. 

Capitalizing on the Pumpkin Spice Flavor

Despite its presence for decades prior, the pumpkin spice flavor wouldn’t experience its boom until the early 2000s. Here enters Starbucks, arguably the most well-known coffee shop. Starbucks has long departed from its original image of a whole-bean coffee company and one’s middle spot between home and the office. While they now pump out seasonal drinks and experiment with unexpected flavors (looking at you olive oil coffee), they too once had a period of simply testing it all out. 

After roughly a decade of opening, Starbucks put an eggnog latte on the menu in the 1980s for the holidays. It went over well, pushing them to then develop a peppermint mocha in 2002. Not only did Starbucks see holiday drinks as an opportunity to introduce coffee novices to the more expensive lattes, but the company caught on to the appeal of a seasonal drink.

I get excited when I see a seasonal drink at The Arbor because I know it won’t be there for too long. It’s the feeling of getting to say I partook in a fleeting moment and experienced something that isn’t accessible year-round. It’s like a small celebration of the time of year, creating the sensation of genuinely being in tune and excited about the season. 

Starbucks capitalized on this moment of joy that incites a sense of unspoken community by annually producing their seasonal drinks. It’s a exciting day when the seasonal flavors and treats hit the stores – Pumpkin in August and Christmas in November! They weren’t the first to create a pumpkin spice latte (PSL), but they were undoubtedly the most successful. Unsurprisingly, Starbucks continues to insist they were in fact the first to pair the two. 

In an interview with the Food Network, Peter Dukes, who was the head of the PSL development for Starbucks, states that “20 years ago, nothing pumpkin existed in the marketplace.” While I’ll allow readers to form their own opinion on that statement, it’s grown clear to me during this investigation that the pumpkin spice flavor has lived its own life outside of Starbucks. But I’ll let Dukes think he’s the inventor of a flavor decades older than he is. 

When Dukes’ team surveyed customers on their opinion of a pumpkin-flavored latte, they received many negative opinions. Even so, Starbucks wouldn’t give up the new concept. Fortunate enough for the company that they didn’t because after launching the drink in only two of their locations, they received an abundance of feedback incredible enough to expand the flavor nationwide immediately. 

Starbucks had initially planned to exchange the PSL for a new seasonal drink annually, however, consumers played a key role in making it a yearly staple. Social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter popularized the sharing, reposting, and “memeing” of all things pumpkin spice-related. Consumers can communally feel the excitement of PSL season or band together to share their distaste for it.

Either way, any publicity was good publicity. 

Pumpkin Spice And… Everything Nice?

With a spice blend controlled through enslavement, showcased by the wealthy, popularized by capitalism, and eventually made into a seasonal staple by large corporations, the Pumpkin Spice syrup in my cup has lived quite a long yet not-so-nice life. Will a new flavor ever hold as much thought in our minds as this blend? Who knows. As for now, I’ll just keep trying whatever new concoction coffee shops manage to put pumpkin spice into. Even though in complete honesty, I’m more of an apple cinnamon kind of girl.

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