Does Starbucks' Pumpkin Spice Latte Have Real Pumpkin In It?

If we had to narrow down all the tasty fall beverages out there to one iconic cup, it would be Starbucks' Pumpkin Spice Latte. It's not just the drink's notoriety that gives it that honor — but in a taste test between Starbucks' and Dunkin' Donuts' PSL, we favored the former for its taste and presentation. But it hasn't always been all sunshine and roses in Starbucks' pumpkin land, as the beverage's ingredients were a subject of controversy when it originally came out in 2003. Back then, one of the complaints was that the pumpkin spice syrup used at the time didn't contain any real pumpkin.

But in 2015, the Pumpkin Spice Latte got a makeover, and today, it does include at least some real pumpkin. The drink is described as having a flavor combination of pumpkin, cinnamon, nutmeg, and clove, along with real pumpkin pie spices, and the fall gourd itself can be found in its pumpkin spice sauce. This flavoring lists pumpkin puree as its third ingredient (after sugar and condensed skim milk), along with 2% or less of fruit and vegetable juice (for color), natural flavors, annatto (another food coloring), salt, and potassium sorbate. The pumpkin spice topping, on the other hand, is just a mixture of cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and cloves.

So where does Starbucks source its pumpkin puree for its spiced sauce? The exact location remains a mystery, but we do know that it comes from kabocha pumpkins. Also known as kabocha squash (although "kabocha" is derived from the word "pumpkin" in Japanese), these gourds are part of the Cucurbitaceae family along with other types of pumpkins. They have a rich, nutty, and sweet flavor similar to their squash cousins.

Essentially, this means that any other Starbucks drink with pumpkin pie sauce will have some real puree in it as well. Examples are the Iced Pumpkin Spice Latte and Pumpkin Spice Frappuccino. But even pumpkin-flavored beverages that you may not expect can have a little real puree in them as well. The Pumpkin Cream Cold Brew, for instance, doesn't list pumpkin spice sauce as a customizable element, but it does include the sauce in its pumpkin cream cold foam. In the same vein, you'll find some of the puree in the Iced Pumpkin Cream Chai, which is also made with cold foam. And of course, if you add pumps of the sauce into any other type of beverage from Starbucks, you'll get a tiny bit of the real fruit in there as well.