When Will The Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Latte Be Available For 2016? A Date Hasn't Been Announced Yet, But Signs Point To "Soon"

If we're being honest with ourselves, we all know that the calendar year basically revolves around Starbucks seasonal drinks — and there's one in particular that holds a special place in our hearts, largely known by three little letters: PSL. But when will the Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Latte come back for 2016? An official release date hasn't yet been announced (this post will be updated when it is), but if we do a little detective work, we can actually make a pretty good guess as to when it might be.

Let's start by taking a look at years gone by. In 2015, the PSL's official release date was Sept. 8. However, some super talented folks were able to get a PSL Fan Pass by guessing a secret password, granting them access to the delicious latte as early as Sept. 4. The prior year (2014), the drink was released Sept. 2, but early access was available in August thanks to a sort of online puzzle game that ran from Aug. 21 to Aug. 25.

You'll notice that in 2015, we had to wait a little longer before we could get our hands on the Pumpkin Spice Latte. Why? Again, this is just an educated guess, but intuition tells me that it has to do with Labor Day. In 2015, Labor Day was on Sept. 7, and the PSL followed the day after, on Sept. 8; meanwhile, in 2014, Labor Day was on Sept. 1, and the PSL came the day after that, on Sept. 2. If the PSL typically has a habit of arriving after Labor Day, we can probably expect it to drop sometime after Sept. 5 this year (that's the date of the holiday) —and if we get really specific, we can likely speculate that it will arrive on Sept. 6, which would follow the day-after-Labor-Day pattern from previous years. Furthermore, if Sbux continues to offer some kind of early access thing, that could possibly happen starting roughly a week before the actual release date.


Anticipation is often the most exciting part, though, so I don't mind waiting for the Pumpkin Spice Latte to arrive. Besides, I'm one of those people who hates it when stores start putting out holiday decorations five months early. Like... why are we thinking about Christmas on the 4th of July? Good things come to those who wait.

For the curious, McDonald's has announced that the McCafe Pumpkin Spice Latte will be available nationwide starting Aug. 31. I'm personally not familiar with their version of the PSL, but it's good to know, regardless; if you really can't wait until September to enjoy a steaming cup of pumpkin-flavored goodness, you've got options.

Stay tuned, as we'll keep you updated once we have the specifics!

Images: Unsplash; Giphy (3)