I recently posted my excitement about the Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Latte coming to the UK for the first time. I love Starbucks' seasonal drinks but we usually only get the Christmas and summery ones here. Autumn (or rather Fall) flavours in America only means one thing - Pumpkin Spice. If there is a product that can have some Pumpkin Spice added to it then it will be done. I've heard about Pumpkin Spice yogurts, chocolates, bread, pancakes, hell even Pumpkin Spice Pringles!
Unfortunately we don't get anything like that in the UK but luckily for pumpkin fans Starbucks has come to the rescue, well almost. I ordered the Pumpkin Spice Latte but as you can see from my photo above I don't get cream on my coffees, ever. Can't stand the stuff. Here's what it should look like with cream:
The Pumpkin Spice Latte is described as "espresso blended with the unmistakable spices of fall – cinnamon, nutmeg and clove – smooth with steamed milk and topped with delectably sweetened whipped cream". So no actual pumpkin then. I tried this drink on an extremely rainy and grey day. I got soaked just walking to the Starbucks and the Pumpkin Spice Latte was just the thing to warm me up. The cinnamon and autumnal spices are warming and delicious. However there is absolutely no pumpkin taste, even the sprinkles on top taste of cinnamon and ginger rather than pumpkin. Disappointing for pumpkin lovers but still a lovely drink that is very similar to the Gingerbread Latte.
I also ordered the Pumpkin Loaf cake at the same time (seen in background of the top photo). This cake was extremely moist in texture but still quite heavy and filling. It had a great unmistakably pumpkin taste which was very satisfying. It might sound odd to have a cake with a vegetable flavour but pumpkin lends itself to sweet flavours in much the same way as carrots. The cake has been topped with pumpkin seeds in a sweet syrupy drizzle which adds a lovely crunchiness to the moist cake.
My husband ordered the new Salted Caramel Mocha, (stock photo above!). It was quite odd because the flavour was very similar to a normal Mocha with a caramel drizzle but then it has been bizarrely topped with crushed sea salt and sugar. You literally get small lumps of sea salt as you are drinking, especially at first. After a while the sea salt melts into the drink, once this happens you can't really taste the salt but it does heighten the flavours of the chocolate and caramel. Again, it's a very warming drink and I'm glad that Starbucks has brought this autumnal menu to the UK.
I believe (from reading American cooking blogs) that 'pumpkin spice' is the name for the spice blend that Americans use when cooking pumpkin, rather than something that contains pumpkin itself! I only discovered this recently, when I was cooking pumpkin recipes which called for pumpkin spice - as you say, it's actually just standard winter spices like cinnammon, cloves, nutmeg and so on.
ReplyDeleteThey do a similarly confusing thing with 'coffee cake' - it is not cake that contains coffee, it's just a certain type of cake that you're meant to have WITH coffee. Really confused me that one did, lol!