The Pumpkin Spice Latte is back. I went to 3 Starbucks stores on PSL launch day to see if the hype still hits.

Will the real PSL lovers please stand up?

Pumpkin Spice Latte season officially kicked off on Tuesday, as Starbucks launched its famous fall menu, summer temps be damned.

The return of the PSL was hyped up on social media in the days leading up to the launch. Starbucks revived its @TheRealPSL Instagram account after an eight-year hiatus, posting sumptuous photos of the beverage and even some clips of Andy Cohen reading comments from PSL fans. On the actual launch day, a video posted to the account showed Saturday Night Live star Heidi Gardner joyously snagging her first PSL of the season.

That was the energy I expected as I made my way to a Starbucks in New York City’s Financial District (aka the corporate hub of Manhattan, where hundreds, if not thousands, of people are presumably getting their coffee on a workday) early Tuesday morning. What PSL fanatic is going to be first in line? How big will the crowd be? What autumnal decor will be on display? I thought to myself. Little did I know.

The early shift

I walked into my first Starbucks at 6:53 a.m. I was one of three customers there and the only one who was ordering off the fall menu, freshly displayed behind the counter. Despite being on the hunt for PSL fans, I’m not necessarily one of them. I ordered the Iced Pecan Crunch Oatmilk Latte instead.

“We’ve only gotten one [PSL order] so far this morning,” the employee behind the counter told me. “But it’s coming.”

Meanwhile, on TikTok, I had already scrolled through videos that made me think PSL lovers weren’t the type to delay their first taste of their favorite flavor. Oriana Roberts visited her local chain at 5 a.m. to get her first PSL of the season, while Makenna Schwartz drove to hers at 6:15 a.m. for that long-awaited sip. Kevin Uznanski, who goes by Lord Cappuccino on social media, also woke up before sunrise to walk over to his NYC Starbucks, where he was confirmed to have the first PSL order of the day.

So, why wasn’t I seeing those early birds? “I’m sure people are placing their pickup orders right now,” the barista assured me.

‘It’s what I look forward to’

Customers began trickling into the coffee shop, although there were only 10 at once by the morning’s peak. Most were people who’d placed their coffee orders online, silently walking in, grabbing their drinks and heading out. There was a distinctive lack of enthusiasm and energy — and nary a sign of anything pumpkin.

A woman named Jennifer was one of the few to stick around. I noticed her taking a seat at the end of the high-top table where I’d been sitting for nearly an hour. She had a venti pumpkin cold brew in front of her with “Enjoy!” written on the cup in orange Sharpie. I scooted over to chat.

“I use the Starbucks app to order my coffee, so I saw last week that [the PSL] was coming back on Aug. 26,” she told me. “It’s what I look forward to.” Aug. 26 also happens to be her birthday. “So, this was my free drink.”

While other coffee chains have created their own versions of the drink, the Starbucks PSL is Jennifer’s favorite — “not too sweet,” she noted — and she’ll have up to four in one day while it’s available. She also stocks up on Nespresso Vertuo pods in Pumpkin Spice flavor.

“My day’s definitely off to a good start,” she shared, eventually slinking out of the store with a half-full iced coffee cup.

‘It’s all I’m making’

I ventured to another location. This one had no sign outside indicating that the PSL was back, but employees wore a few autumnal pins on their visors and hats. And when I actually ordered a PSL with pumpkin cold foam myself, the employee taking my order shared that it was only the third one he’d made that day.

“Maybe it’s too early,” he told me, noting both the summer weather — it was 80 degrees in NYC that day — and the time of day. “I only started 45 minutes ago.”

A barista at the same location had a different experience. “It’s all I’m making,” she said when I asked about the number of PSLs that had come through by 10 a.m. “Really anything pumpkin. Even if they get their regular coffee, they’re asking for pumpkin spice sprinkled on top.”

Even so, those autumnal vibes felt hard to come by. Popping into a third café that was similarly ho-hum, I turned to my social media community to see how others were marking PSL Day.

“What’s a PSL?” two friends asked in response.

“I’m not running to grab one even though I love them because to me it signals the end of summer,” another pal told me. “Every year it creeps closer into summer, and it makes me MAD. At least wait until after Labor Day!!!!”

Finally, one friend replied that she was on her way to a Starbucks to get an iced PSL. “This is like the biggest day of the year for me.” She wrote back later to note that she too noticed a lack of buzz. “The store was absolutely empty somehow, and no sign yet. They did give out samples, though, which I thought was super-cute!”

Still a latte love

By the end of PSL Day, I’d visited three Starbucks locations and sipped two coffees (including one PSL) but failed to witness the harvest-y hype I’d seen on social media. (My PSL pursuit was eventually derailed by a certain Instagram post announcing Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce’s announcement; not even the world’s biggest coffee chain can compete with true love.)

Maybe it’s too early in the year for the Starbucks drink that’s come to signify autumn for so many people. Maybe the evolution of how people interact with the coffee chain (less hanging out, more mobile ordering) made the launch feel lackluster IRL. Maybe, 22 years into the PSL era, there are simply too many pumpkin-flavored dupes out there. Dunkin’ launched its fall menu, which boasts the Pumpkin Spice Signature Latte, on Aug. 20, while someone recently described La Colombe’s Pumpkin Spice Draft Latte to me as “a game-changer.”

Or maybe I was just going to the wrong stores. While Starbucks hasn’t released its 2025 figures yet, its locations historically see an uptick in foot traffic (last year, there was a 24% increase) on the day PSLs are released. And I have no doubt that as the temperatures dip and the leaves change color, fall’s favorite drink will once again have everyone in its thrall.

Case in point: My editor was proofing this story when she got a text from her sister-in-law, Alyse. She opened it up to find a photo of a grande PSL in a Starbucks to-go cup labeled “Alice.” It’s back, baby.