Review: Starbucks' Pumpkin Spice Latte Season Is Here, But You Should Try The Newest Fall Drink First

Nowadays, the launch of the fall menu at Starbucks is as much of an indicator of the passing seasons as kids heading back to school, Labor Day weekend, or the changing colors of the leaves. Late August through early November is packed with seasonal milestones, but for many, it's all just Pumpkin Spice Latte (PSL) Season. After over 20 years on the seasonal menu, the "real" PSL, as Starbucks calls it, has finally made its regularly anticipated return, along with some recurring seasonal favorites and two new offerings to keep those cozy season lovers coming back for more.

You don't actually have to be a fan of pumpkin spice lattes to find something enticing in the popular seasonal lineup. Pumpkin spice might be the main act, but pecan won the role of best supporting flavor on the fall menu in 2024. It was so well-received that the flavor made a comeback in 2025 and was added to a second new drink. This year, Starbucks welcomes the Pecan Oatmilk Cortado to the fall drink menu and Italian Sausage Egg Bites to the popular breakfast food menu.

Alongside fan-favorites like the Iced Pecan Crunch Oatmilk Latte, which first appeared on the fall menu last year, and perennial favorites: Pumpkin Cream Cold Brew, and Iced Pumpkin Cream Chai, PSL season is a cultural phenomenon that looks like it's here for the foreseeable future, and here's what you can expect from this year's lineup.

The Pecan Oatmilk Cortado is the new handcrafted espresso drink on the PSL season menu, which is a drink style that we've never seen on the seasonal menu before. For those who may be preparing to taste a cortado for the very first time, this is what you need to know: The espresso shots begin with Starbucks Blonde Espresso and are pulled "ristretto" style. That means the same amount of ground coffee is used to create the espresso shots, but a shorter, more concentrated shot is extracted from each pull, rather than the longer, traditional style shot. Each Pecan Cortado has three ristretto shots, a small pour of steamed milk, seasonal pecan syrup, a thin layer of foamed milk, and pecan crunch topping.

Italian Sausage Egg Bites have joined the breakfast menu for the season, and are prepared in the same sous vide style that the popular Bacon & Gruyère and Egg White & Roasted Red Pepper Egg Bites are cooked in. This version includes crumbled Italian sausage, sun-dried tomato pesto, basil, and Monterey Jack cheese. Like the other egg bites on the menu, the new Italian Sausage Egg Bites are served in sets of two and heated to order.

As of August 26, all of the summer Frappuccinos magically turned back into Pumpkin Spice Lattes ... or so it would seem, given how seamlessly shops across North America rolled out the beloved fall menu. The new and returning menu items are now available everywhere, and usually last until the end of October or the first week of November — while supplies last or until the Starbucks menu rolls over for the holiday season.

You won't need to worry about what size to order the new Pecan Oatmilk Cortado in — it only comes in an 8-ounce size (what is referred to as a "short" in Starbucks' drink sizing language). And while you're welcome to switch up the dairy, customize the shots, syrups, flavors, toppings, and even the cup size it comes in, the one thing you can't add is ice. The Pecan Oatmilk Cortado is only served hot, so you might want to try the Pecan Crunch Oatmilk Latte if you're in the mood for something cold, yet seasonal, while we wait for fall to actually arrive.

Prices will likely vary depending on the location, but as a point of comparison, the Pecan Oatmilk Cortado was $5.75 at my local coffee shop in NYC before tax, and the new Italian Sausage Egg Bites were $5.65. The Pecan Cortado costs slightly more than a regular cortado, which is priced at $5.25 at my local shop.

Since their addition to the food menu in 2017, the Starbucks Eggs Bites have become almost as iconic as the PSL ... almost. As someone who readily enjoys them directly from a Starbucks, or directly out of the box from Costco, the Starbucks Bacon & Gruyère Egg Bites are essentially one of the pillars of my diet at this point. So I was looking forward to tasting the new Italian Sausage Egg Bites released with the fall menu.

The Italian flavors are big here, just like you'd expect given the list of ingredients. The basil tastes strong and fresh, and the sun-dried tomato pesto is so flavorful, it seems more like it's holding onto the last of the peak summer season, instead of hurtling towards the chill of fall. Sausage adds a little protein boost, which is part of the attraction of the Egg Bites in the first place, and while the Monterey Jack cheese is less of a standout flavor, it's still there, and helps round-out the whole snack. Compared to the two Egg Bites offerings on the regular Starbucks food menu that are more subtle in flavor, the Italian Sausage Egg Bites are herby, peppery, and combine to make a snack that's practically sandwich-worthy. Even if it's too adventurous a snack for breakfast, it's just as accessible for a light afternoon bite or a snack to hold you over until dinner.

Don't let the small stature of this drink fool you, it's absolutely packed with flavor. Before it even hits your tongue, the nutty and sweet scent of the pecan syrup, mingled with the freshly pulled shots of espresso, wafts up at you (if you remove the lid). Having only a limited experience with Starbucks' Blonde Roast Espresso, I'll admit that I underestimated just how flavorful the espresso itself would be, and overestimated how much milk would be involved. The taste is noticeably lighter, brighter, and richer than what you'd expect from Starbucks' Signature Espresso pulled with the usual long shots. And I all but forgot that the milk used in the Pecan Cortado was oat milk. Just creamy enough to take the edge off the espresso, but not to dilute or mellow it out, the ratio of milk to espresso is perfect for anyone who enjoys a coffee-forward drink with a little bit of milk to go with it.

But what sets this particular cortado apart from the other drinks on the menu is the seasonal pecan syrup. As a pecan pie lover, I tried to keep my expectations in check — although I was pleasantly surprised by the addition of the Iced Pecan Crunch Oatmilk Latte last year. In the Pecan Oatmilk Cortado, the pecan syrup serves to amplify the flavors of the espresso, building on the subtle acidity, lightly toasted flavor, and gentle creaminess, while also punching up the sweetness of the overall drink.

This has been the year of the cortado at Starbucks, with the first two iterations of the drink added to the permanent espresso menu on January 3. The classic cortado is also made with three shots of blonde espresso, pulled in the ristretto style, before adding steamed milk, and a small layer of foamed milk on top. The Brown Sugar Oatmilk Cortado was introduced at the same time, swapping out the whole milk for oat milk, adding two pumps of brown sugar syrup, and finishing it off with a dusting of cinnamon powder on top. Like the new Pecan Oatmilk Cortado, the permanent menu versions are only served hot and short.

The Pecan Oatmilk Cortado is bolder in flavor and stronger in punch than the returning Iced Pecan Crunch Oatmilk Latte, even though it's a fraction of the size. For those who enjoyed the pecan flavor from last year or are currently enjoying the Brown Sugar Oatmilk Cortado, the seasonal cortado is the obvious next step.

Starbucks has the fall food menu so dialed in at this point that there's very little need for new menu items. Returning to the menu are the Pumpkin and Pepita Loaf, Baked Apple Croissant, Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffin, and adorable woodland Raccoon Cake Pop. Since all of the returning menu items are relatively sweet, it's nice that the Italian Sausage Egg Bites are a new savory option on the seasonal food menu.

Love it or hate it, the enduring popularity of the Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Latte isn't a coincidence. So at least once every season, I like to pick up a PSL to remember the reason for the season, so to speak. Then, I'm likely to rotate through several of the other seasonal offerings and back to the permanent menu options until the holidays arrive. That said, the Pecan Oatmilk Cortado and its pecan predecessor are worth a few repeats in the rotation over the next couple of months.

Like the Pumpkin Cream Cold Brew, the Pecan Oatmilk Cortado deftly walks the line between a no-nonsense, coffee-forward beverage and a festive seasonal treat, which will likely attract enthusiasts from all sides of the beverage spectrum. Unlike some of the other nut-flavored syrups Starbucks has added to seasonal drinks in the past (looking at you, Chestnut Praline Latte), the Pecan Oatmilk Cortado has a realistic nuttiness, is easy to enjoy with a moderate amount of sweetness, and has enough full-flavored espresso to easily power me through the first half of my day.

While my heart will probably always remain with the Bacon & Gruyère Eggs Bites, an order of Italian Sausage Egg Bites, and a woodland Raccoon Cake Pop might be just the snack I need on a cozy afternoon soon, when the air conditioner finally clicks off and we've truly made it out of the heat of summertime, into the real "Real PSL Season."