Scenario: Given the chance to live a day in the Starbucks CEO’s shoes (we had to name check ourselves, because PSL—sorry, no, PSA—it’s not Howard Schultz anymore), wouldn’t you, too, want to eat into those artificial flavor–fueled profits as early as you could? Of course you would.
But maybe these “too early”-ers have a right to be skeptical. After all, pumpkin was a calculated marketing ploy. Namely, when Starbucks renamed fall “PSL season,” they knew every Ugg-wearing, Insta-obsessed woman from age 13 to 43 would be lining up for their special seasonal latte, and they got that prediction right. A cool $1.4 billion (with a b, not for basic) has been generated from the sale of PSLs since their inception in 2003, according to Mic.
But here’s where the eye rolling and the “too early”-ing falls flat. See, in my opinion, the real reason people drink pumpkin syrup–filled lattes isn’t because they want to ascribe to some Starbucks-manufactured sorority girl ideal. It’s simply because these things are freaking delicious. They taste good, they feel good, end of story.
So while it may be a balmy late-August day, and I’m sweating through my linen shirtdress and fumbling with my sunglasses, you better believe I’m beelining straight to my local S’bucks (one of ten in a six-block radius), ordering a PSL (make it iced) and jammin’ to Earth, Wind & Fire as I usher in the beginning of my favorite season, wistfully wishing away the hours till sweaters, hot chocolate and piles of dead leaves are the norm.
