Starbucks Fall Menu Review: Your Sweet Tooth Is Required

Be it capitalism or an authentic sense of excitement for the upcoming change of seasons, fall frenzy seems to hit stores earlier and earlier each year. For Starbucks, the fall season has always been special to fans who wait ever so patiently for the Pumpkin Spice Latte's buzzy return. If autumn in August is what the people want, Starbucks has the goods.

Beginning August 22, Starbucks' new fall menu is coming in hot, and it includes some never-before-seen items. An Iced Apple Crisp Nondairy Cream Chai is a brand new drink for fall, putting a spirited twist on Starbucks' cold foam craze. There's also a new cake pop on the way — and it's a cute one. Prior to the official launch, Mashed got the invite to Starbucks Reserve in the Empire State Building, for a taste of the 2024 fall menu.

Starbucks is padding its fall menu with dessert — and dessert drinks. Festive promotions are rarely an exercise in restraint and this one is no different. There was a balance in the richness or depth of flavor in most of what I tried — but is the sweet factor counterbalanced enough to make all 24 ounces of an iced venti tasty until the last drop? Here's what I thought of the new seasonal selections, old standbys, and the Starbucks fall menu as a whole.

Pumpkin spice is the fall flavor of the moment, but Starbucks continues to bring apple flavors to the forefront as well. Despite pumpkin spice's mega popularity, it's an acquired taste that not everybody loves. If you are among the pumpkin spice naysayers but still want to go for something seasonal at Starbucks, there are several apple-forward menu items to choose from.

Autumnal standby Caramel Apple Spice and the Apple Crisp Oatmilk Macchiato which debuted in the fall of 2022 are still available, but when Starbucks decided to dream up a brand new fall-inspired drink for 2024, it was apple — not pumpkin — that became the muse. Just about every cafe chain worth its weight in espresso beans peddles pumpkin, so the departure helps Starbucks to stand out a little. Promoting apple-forward flavors in tandem with pumpkin spice is also a way for Starbucks to put forth a more inclusive seasonal menu for customers.

Starbucks Iced Apple Crisp Nondairy Cream Chai is a beverage that lactose-sensitive patrons can order without having to make a single customization for dietary reasons. On the other hand, the Pumpkin Spice sauce Starbucks uses contains dairy — which makes ordering any pumpkin spice beverage dairy-free impossible. Now, customers who have a dairy allergy or lactose intolerance get to try something for fall that was created with them in mind.

When I sipped from my little Starbucks sample cup containing the all-new Iced Apple Crisp Nondairy Cream Chai, my anticipation was met with a medley of sweet, apple cinnamon-y flavor with a slight richness.The buttery undertones of the apple crisp flavor, black tea spices from the chai, and the fluffiness of the nondairy sweet cream cold foam give a nice effect. In short, the Iced Apple Crisp Nondairy Cream Chai made a positive first impression, but I have my suspicions that a full-sized version of Starbucks' latest seasonal beverage might verge on sweetness overload.

The nondairy cold foam is a hybrid of oat and soy milk and contains flavoring from the sweet cream and an apple brown sugar syrup. The Iced Chai Latte (this beverage is only available iced), is a mixture of chai concentrate and oat milk. The layered effect of these flavors made for a few delicious sips, yet it's hard to imagine taking down a full-sized version of this drink.

I appreciate the boldness of the flavors Starbucks brings into the Iced Apple Crisp Nondairy Cream Chai, it just starts to come across as a little too busy. I'm curious to see if the Iced Apple Crisp Nondairy Cream Chai becomes a popular pick this fall. If so, you may see it (or a revised version of it) when Starbucks' drops its fall menu next year.

I cannot imagine a world in which Starbucks would ever dream of not tantalizing people's hearts and minds with the return of Pumpkin Spice Latte for fall. Now entering its 21st year, the PSL was (and is) the standard-setter for all things pumpkin and espresso.Watching a tray of Pumpkin Spice Latte samples enter the Starbucks Reserve tasting room, was to be in the presence of a veritable pop icon in cafe chain culture. Regardless of your personal opinions, you know exactly what you're looking at.

That's when I realized how long it had been since I'd actually had a Pumpkin Spice Latte. A couple sips in, it was clear why this drink draws the crowds. There is an element of comfort in its mellow nutmeg and cinnamon-accented flavor along with the act of holding a warm latte in your hands. There's a good chance that temperatures on the August 22 release date won't conjure up a changing of the seasons, but taking those first few sips of a PSL did transport me for a bit.

Drinking the Pumpkin Spice Latte with whole milk helps to tame the artificial tasting aspects of the Pumpkin pice sauce. This characteristic serves as Pumpkin Spice's biggest drawback. There is no denying that the Pumpkin Spice Latte is the emblem of Starbucks' fall lineup, yet its reliance on whole milk to soften its overall taste makes it a latte with limitations.

If Starbucks is promoting seasonal drinks, you better believe that a dollop of its cold foam is just a spoonful away. Pumpkin Cream Cold Brew is back this fall, after featuring as a brand-new beverage during 2019's fall menu launch. Starbucks' cold brew coffee and vanilla syrup get the autumnal treatment courtesy of Pumpkin Cream cold foam — a playful change-up from the Sweet cream cold foam atop many iced drinks on the year-round menu.

By taking Pumpkin Spice sauce out of the drink itself and incorporating it into the light-as-air sweet cream cold foam, allows the strength of the cold brew's flavor to come through. Starbucks can't help itself and adds vanilla syrup into the cold brew. The vanilla flavor is compatible with the sweetness of the Pumpkin Spice sauce, but makes this drink a more sugar-centered than it needs to be. I would be curious to see how the Pumpkin Cream Cold Brew tastes without any additional syrup in the coffee.

Starbucks' fall menu will also see the return of Iced Pumpkin Cream Chai. The aromatic spices in Starbucks' chai concentrate (which is combined with milk in this classic tea latte) make it pumpkin spice's best-tasting flavor pairing. It's a logical combination that doesn't come across as having too many components — perhaps because chai is one of the only latte flavors in the Starbucks repertoire that pumpkin spice does not overpower. Is it sweet? Yes, but it's spicy too.

If you'd rather indulge in sugary eats than sweet drinks, Starbucks is bringing some delightful treats back into the pastry case. The Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffin (an old fall favorite) returns, as does last year's Baked Apple Croissant. Starbucks is also introducing an all-new Raccoon Cake Pop. Fall in the summer may make some customers a bit skeptical, but I was more than happy to taste-test these autumnal confections.

The Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffin is pleasantly spiced with a tangy cream cheese center — a worthy indulgence that pairs nicely with a Starbucks brewed coffee or black tea. I love a Starbucks cake pop moment, and its playful raccoon character made me smile. The adorable little woodland critter fits well-enough into the fall theme and the soft vanilla cake is a satisfying bite. Getting up close and personal with gray icing might not be immediately appetizing to everyone, (Starbucks assures that there are hints of purple in the shade), but honestly, this gray icing tastes great.

Not all of Starbucks fall treats are purely seasonal this time around. The Baked Apple Croissant comes back as part of the fall menu and will continue on as a permanent item. This is welcome news because it was my favorite of the treats I tried. The apple flavor, buttery finish, and flaky texture were in perfect harmony, giving this croissant a more sophisticated profile than the sugar rush you might typically anticipate from Starbucks' bakery items.

Taking part in a multi-course tasting led by Starbucks marketing experts allowed me to taste an assortment of fall menu items ahead of time. Being a certified barista and longtime coffee enthusiast, helped inform critiques of the items in the tasting. As much as I love to gorge on pastries and lattes with near-abando, some key determining factors came into play as I formed opinions on the products I tried.

The most prominent factor was overall taste. Menu items that brought distinct and pleasant flavors from the first sip (or bite), became my favorites. Items with flavors that became muddled or cloyingly sweet did not fare as well in the taste test.

Other attributes I considered during the tasting were aroma and appearance. The products whose look and smell got my appetite going earned bonus points in my book. I also considered the texture or consistency of each item, and in regard to beverages, how customizable they were. Although everything I tried was sweet, some of the fall menu drinks allow for more versatility than others.