Mistakes You Need To Stop Making For The Best Homemade Pumpkin Spice Latte

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You can all breathe a sigh of relief, folks — Pumpkin spice latte season is well and truly here. It's time to get cozy, wrap yourself up in your favorite sweater-scarf combination, and head down to Starbucks to grab yourself the PSL you've been craving all year. Or, at least, it would be if things weren't so expensive at the moment. The famous Starbucks pumpkin spice latte, which was invented by the chain's director of espresso, Peter Dukes, in 2003, will cost you approximately $6.50 in 2025. That's if you're ordering a grande, too. Getting a bigger one will set you back even more.

So, it's no wonder that more and more people are thinking of making their pumpkin spice lattes at home. The trouble is, it's not the easiest drink in the world to create. One mistake can turn your homemade PSL from a warming and delicious beverage into a mess of overspiced pumpkin flavors and lumpy, seared milk. That's all before you consider what you put on top of it, too, or which glass you serve it in. Pumpkin spice latte mistakes are both frequent and disastrous, and we're here to put a stop to them.

Homemade pumpkin spice lattes differ from the store-made ones in one big way: While the versions in places like Starbucks use a pumpkin spice syrup that has pumpkin purée in it, the homemade versions generally incorporate pumpkin purée separately. Although this might seem unnecessary, trust us when we say that you'll really want to include it. Pumpkin purée not only provides your PSL with rich, nutty, pumpkin-forward flavor, but it also helps to thicken your drink beautifully. Plus, it gives your pumpkin spice latte a delightful orange tinge, which is vital to the appearance of your drink.

However, one common mistake is to substitute pumpkin purée with pumpkin pie filling. While this might seem totally fine to do, you'll end up with a drink that's tooth-achingly sweet. Pumpkin pie filling and pumpkin purée are not the same thing: The latter is generally just pumpkin, while the former is typically heavily sweetened. Pumpkin pie filling can also contain other ingredients like thickeners and spices that may well alter the texture and flavor of your drink. We'd avoid it entirely and control the level of sugar by using your added sweetener of choice. Don't forget, too, that you can make your own pumpkin purée at home. 

Like any latte, a pumpkin spice latte relies on a pretty large quantity of heated milk. In coffee shops, the milk is steamed, which gives it a lighter texture and prevents it from scalding so easily. However, at home, you may well be thinking about boiling your milk on the stove as a way to heat it up. If you do this, you may well be tempted to crank up the flame and bring it to a boil quickly — and this can lead to disaster. 

If you try to heat your milk too quickly, the whey in it can curdle, and the sugars inside it can burn. This then leaves scraps of burnt milk all over the bottom of your pan and gives a charred, unpleasant flavor. In addition, boiling milk can quickly foam and flood your stovetop, potentially leading to injuries.

To avoid doing this, we'd recommend either heating your milk on a very low heat or microwaving it in intervals. Zapping a bowl of milk in 15-second intervals can allow you to control the rate that it warms up. Alternatively, you can heat it using a double-boiler. Don't forget that your choice of milk will affect the flavor of your drink, too. Options like skim milk or rice milk may taste too thin and watery, and not give your drink the richness it requires. Whole milk, half and half, and non-dairy milk alternatives like almond or oat milk are good choices.

You wanna know why pumpkin spice lattes taste relatively light, even when they're full of creamy milk? It's because that milk is frothed, people. Baristas are experts at incorporating air into their milk to stop it from being too dense. They do this by steaming the milk, which injects it with hot air and, of course, warms it up in the process.

A lot of people don't have the means to steam milk at home, though, and so they assume that just heating it is enough. Sadly, it isn't. If you don't froth your milk after you heat it, your pumpkin spice latte will never have the body you want it to. Luckily, there are plenty of ways to get perfectly frothy milk without a steam wand. The easiest way is probably using a handheld frother. A battery-operated milk frother by Bodium Schiuma (the same company that makes French presses) costs about $11 and will whisk your milk until it incorporates air bubbles into the mix. Just don't be tempted to think that your frother will heat your milk, too; it won't.

It's called a pumpkin spice latte, people — it's meant to have spices in it. The main reason why the pumpkin spice latte is so tasty is, in our opinion, the blend of cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, ground clove, and allspice that make up its spice blend. Making homemade pumpkin spice is easy enough if you have all of these ingredients to hand, but if you're doing this instead of buying a pre-made blend, you need to be extra careful to measure out each component carefully. If you're even just a little too heavy-handed with one spice, you can throw off the entire balance of your drink and end up with something that tastes dissonant and unfamiliar.

You can, of course, avoid this happening by purchasing pumpkin spice in a bottle (Simply Organic pumpkin spice is a good option), but even when you do this, you need to watch how much you're putting in. Throwing in too much pumpkin spice will give your drink a chalky and earthy flavor and a gritty consistency. Start with around a quarter-teaspoon of pumpkin spice, and add more if you need to, after giving your drink a taste test.

It wouldn't be a pumpkin spice latte if it didn't have coffee in it, right? The PSL requires a strong jolt of coffee, and not just to get you going. Even if you're opting for a decaffeinated version of the drink, you need the coffee in your drink to feel punchy and bold, flavor-wise. Coffee provides that aromatic bitterness that works against the sweet, spicy overtones of the drink, making the pumpkin spice latte a complex experience.

Sadly, though, a lot of the time, the homemade version misses the mark, and the main reason is that the coffee used in it is just too weak. A pumpkin spice latte is typically made with a shot of strong espresso, and if you're opting for a weak drip coffee, you just won't get the same effect. It's totally fine to opt for a strong brewed coffee or cold brew in your drink, but make sure it's concentrated and earthy. Otherwise, it just won't hit the spot.

The spices in your pumpkin spice latte will give your drink a sensuous, complex quality, but they'll only do so if they're allowed to blossom properly. The aroma and flavor of ground spices are unlocked by being heated, but when it comes to a PSL, a lot of people think that they can get away with simply stirring them in as an afterthought. If you do this and fail to heat them through properly, then you'll end up with a drink that tastes lifeless and underpowered. There'll be a mere hint of spice, but nothing else.

For the best flavor, we recommend adding your spices either while your milk is warming up or just after taking it off the heat. Both of these options will allow your spices to awaken and their flavors and fragrances to bloom. If you only add them once your drink is in its cup, they may not activate enough, and won't incorporate effectively into the rest of the beverage. Additionally, try to avoid boiling your spices, as this will dull their flavor.

One ingredient that often gets forgotten about when it comes to homemade PSLs is vanilla, and we think that's a huge shame. Vanilla may not be an official ingredient in the Starbucks pumpkin spice latte, but it's hard to deny its power in this drink. The spice gives your beverage an underpinning of smoothness and stops the spices from creating too much of a bitter note. It also gives pumpkin spice lattes a more rounded flavor and brings out the creaminess of the milk.

However, as with all things in this life, it's easy to overdo it. Be careful about how much vanilla you add. It may seem like a subtle flavor, but it can be deceptively strong in larger amounts, and putting in too much will diminish any other flavor in your drink. We'd opt for no more than about a half-teaspoon of good-quality vanilla extract in one pumpkin spice latte. While some recipes advocate adding more, we always think it's better to err on the side of caution at first.

There's no getting around the fact that a PSL is a sweet drink. While you can go with options like stevia or erythritol, generally speaking, you're looking at adding some sugar into the mix. Which sugar you add, though, is important to think about. Pumpkin spice lattes aren't exactly known for their subtlety, but choosing the wrong sweetener can lead to a lack of flavor depth, which can make your drink feel a little flat.

In our opinion, the "wrong" sweetener is white granulated sugar. We put the word "wrong" in quotation marks there because if it's all you have in the kitchen, you should still use it, but it's definitely the option that gives your drink the least nuance. It'll give your beverage a hit of raw sweetness, but little else.

So, what should you use instead? Maple syrup, honey, and brown sugar will all give your drink more roundness and a slightly caramelized quality. If you want an even stronger taste, molasses or date syrup can be great choices. Palm sugar can also give your drink a slightly nuttier taste.

Pumpkin spice lattes aren't just a bog-standard drink: They're an experience. This drink is synonymous with coziness and warmth, and you want the glassware to match, right? So don't just stick your PSL in any old mug you have lying around. Instead, think about how you want to present it. The aesthetic quality of our food matters hugely when it comes to our enjoyment of it, and opting for a stylish glass or a Pumpkin Coffee Mug will make your beverage feel so much more like an event. If you want to feel that Starbucks vibe, you can also purchase one of its limited-edition PSL cups. Make one at home and pour it in; it'll feel like you paid top dollar for it.

If you do go for a glass, though, you need to be very careful that it's heatproof. Some glasses can crack or shatter when hot liquids are added to them, and that's the last thing you want here. One tip is to look out for glasses that have a microwave-safe symbol on them, or buy a glass that's specifically tempered or made from borosilicate.

Okay, now we're on to the fun bit. Pumpkin spice lattes shouldn't just taste good: They should look the part, too. This drink kinda doesn't hit the spot for us unless it's crowned with whipped cream and with a sprinkle of extra cinnamon to round things up. When we're making them at home, these additions can feel unnecessary, and we're sorry, but they're not: Your garnish adds both visual flair and extra flavor, and forgetting it will make all of that effort feel like it wasn't worth it.

So, when you're buying ingredients for your PSL, don't forget about the garnish. As mentioned above, whipped cream and ground cinnamon are the two cornerstones of a pumpkin spice latte garnish, but don't be afraid to get creative. Crown your drink with a full star anise to give it a visual pop and add a touch more scent to it. Dust your pumpkin spice latte with cocoa for a flavor contrast, or go all-out with some orange sprinkles to fully usher in the fall. Above all, enjoy yourself — it's what your drink wants you to do.