Three years ago, our team decided to embark on a journeyâsome might call it the journey of a lifetime. Every time a new season rolls around, we set out to try all the new Starbucks drinks, rank them, and share the results with you. In past years, you’ve loved our reviews of Starbucks’ fall drinks, holiday drinks, and spring and summer new releases. Now, weâve officially returned to our favorite season of the year: fall.
Our entire team loves a good Starbucks coffee, but thereâs something about the fall menu that takes it to the next level. This year, Starbucks added a new fall item to the menu: the Iced Apple Crisp Nondairy Cream Chai. Allegedly, Starbucks plans to drop two more new drinks on September 19th, as they follow in the footsteps of Bridgerton and Emily in Paris with a two-part drop. While we patiently wait for the Salted Pecan Cream Cold Brew and an Iced Pecan Crunch Oatmilk Latte, we kicked off this year’s ranking.
Our group of taste-testers gathered to try seven seasonal Starbucks drinks. Despite the team working from home all week due to the DNC taking place in Chicago, we were determined to bring you these rankings, so we met up at a local Starbucks to take on the challenge. You can only imagine the awkwardness of asking the barista to make us, yes, the entire fall drink menu. But two full trays of orange-toned beverages later, we sat, sipped, and settled on a ranking. Clearly, we take this very seriously.
How We Ranked Them
Our three official taste testers tried seven total drinks. We then scored each drink on a scale of 1-5 in the categories of âoverall tasteâ and âlikelihood to get again.â There is a total of 10 possible points per drink from each taste-tester. Thus, each drink has a maximum of 30 possible points. After each had their score, we factored the scores down to be out of 10, just to keep it simple. We also ordered all the drinks without any modifications, so that we could taste the drinks exactly as Big Starbucks intended.
Here is The Everygirlâs official ranking of every fall drink (so far) at Starbucks:
7. Iced Apple Crisp Nondairy Cream Chai
“Just another glass of milk!”
Score: 2/10
Unfortunately, despite our high hopes for the shiny and new fall drink, we were heavily disappointed with this one. The flavor just wasn’t there for usâapple-flavored drinks are notoriously hard to get right, and this one fell flat. Overall, our testers agreed it tasted like “just another glass of milk.” The typical chai spice that you crave when you take that first sip was severely lacking. I’m a chai lover myself, and this one missed all the marks. I’d rather take my regular iced chai with oat milk over this option through the fall season. It’s a bummer for the new kid on the block, but we still have our hopes up for the September 19th drop!
6. Pumpkin Spice Frappucino
“I’m not a 10 year old girl, so…”
Score: 2.6/10
Much like our response to fall frappucinos in years past, the overwhelming response to this option was âmeh.â It is very sweet, so if thatâs your jam, youâll love this. But for the coffee lovers out there, this one does not taste like a PSL, it tastes like a pumpkin pie. The flavor is good, but we all agreed it would probably give you a stomachache. This one tasted more like a dessertâit’s not something we would order outside the confines of a taste test.
5. Iced Pumpkin Cream Chai
“That don’t look right.”
Score: 3/10
Another sad disappointment for the chai girlies. This year’s Pumpkin Cream Chai was just not doing it for us either. This response sums it up: “It’s just like, pumpkin milk.” Clearly, the flavors for this year’s chai drinks were off, and the milky flavor was much too overbearing with this drink. A good chai should have a little spice, but in the words of our Associate Editor Emma Ginsberg, this one tasted “like a sugar cookie.” It’s simply too sweet to be a truly delicious fall drink.
4. Hot Apple Crisp Oatmilk Macchiato
“It tastes like a Caramel Apple Spice.”
Score: 7.3/10
We decided to try the hot version of this drink in true fall fashion, and we were not disappointed. Finally, we found a drink that we will be definitely picking up again this fall. This drink tastes like a warm hug on a crisp fall day, and after years of struggling with the apple crisp flavor, Starbucks appears to have finally found a sweet spot. The taste is not too sweet, and the apple-and-coffee combination works well in a hot drink. Emma insisted that it tastes like the Caramel Apple Spice drink that Starbucks offers on the kid’s menu, furthering our excitement for sipping this cozy drink on the first chilly days of the season.
3. Pumpkin Cream Cold Brew
“The cream is oranger this year. That’s unsettling to me.”
Score: 7.6/10
As a team of cold brew lovers, we were surprised that this one wasn’t higher in the ranks, but it’s still a strong contender in our eyes. In 2022, this was our number one drink, but it’s bumped to the third spot in this year’s ranking. The cold brew flavor is tasty and rich, just like we remembered. The only downfall to the Pumpkin Cream Cold Brew this year was that the cream foam on top was a much more intense orange color than in past years. It was a bit off-putting, but the drink beyond still did its thing.
2. Iced Apple Crisp Oatmilk Shaken Espresso
“It’s so candle to me.”
Score: 8/10
This drink had us in the first half, we’re not gonna lie. On our initial sips, we made the mistake of not mixing the drink and ended up with way too much of the apple flavoring at the bottom of the cup, causing one of us to comment, “It’s so candle to me.” But after giving it a good mix, each taste tester was happily surprised and pleased with this drink. The apple flavor was not too overpowering over the coffee, and it had a nice smooth taste. If you get this drink, just be sure to give it a good swirl around, first.
1. Hot Pumpkin Spice Latte
“This is definitely a solid fall coffee.”
Score: 8.3/10
And the winner is… the iconic PSL! To our absolute delight and surprise, this year’s PSL jumped to the front line this year, making a huge comeback from last year’s bottom-spot ranking. We are now convinced that the PSL of 2023 was a fluke. We’re not sure what changed, but the blend of pumpkin spice and coffee flavor this year was just so satisfying. Hello, nostalgia! This tasted exactly how you would want any PSL to taste, and we all quickly agreed that this one was a favorite, making us excited to rebuy this season. And even better: This top-spot ranking came from a group of iced coffee lovers, and even the hot drink satisfied us. We’d absolutely recommend this one for the chilly fall mornings to come.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Jenna Piotrowicz, Editorial Assistant
Jenna began working as an Editorial Assistant for The Everygirl in 2024. With her eye for detail, she assists the team with content creation, sourcing products and images, and works behind the scenes to support The Everygirl in uploading and updating content.
