9 Trader Joe's Finds For The Best Pumpkin Spice Latte At Home

The perennial return of pumpkin spice lattes is a classic sign that fall is coming. Many people get their fall coffee fix by ordering one at places like Starbucks, but a pumpkin spice latte is also easy to make at home; you just need the right ingredients. And the interesting purchases available at Trader Joe's are a great way to pick up many such components. 

Some of these items are limited-time offerings for the fall season, befitting the essential autumnness of this drink. These include a fan-favorite cake that would make a perfect accompaniment to a pumpkin spice latte, and an essential ingredient that forms a core part of the experience. 

But as a testament to the product variety and quality at Trader Joe's, many of these finds are available year-round. There are multiple different coffees to choose from for a base, snacks to enjoy with a latte, and a nice non-dairy milk to add texture and flavor without lactose (though Trader Joe's does, of course, sell regular dairy milk as well).

Most store-bought cold brew coffee comes as a concentrate that needs to be diluted before serving. But the best store-bought cold brew is ready to drink, and it comes from Trader Joe's. Made of 100% air-roasted Arabica beans, the deep, rich flavor of Ready to Drink Cold Brew Coffee can make a good base for a cold brew pumpkin spice latte. And because it's ready to drink out of the bottle, there's no need to spend time brewing espresso — or cleaning the espresso machine.

Pumpkin spice lattes aren't usually associated with the Netherlands, but these Dutch-inspired Almond Windmill Cookies can make a delightful snack pairing. The buttery almond flavor of these windmill-shaped shortbread cookies comes from a handful of mostly whole ingredients, for a satisfying homemade taste.

These have been a year-round Trader Joe's staple since 2009, but the nutty, buttery shortbread cookies pair exceptionally well with the earthy coffee sweetness of a pumpkin spice latte.

There's no shame in adding dairy milk, or any milk alternative, to a latte. For consumers who want to avoid lactose or simply prefer the texture of soy, Trader Joe's Organic Non-Dairy Soy Vanilla Beverage is a good pumpkin spice latte match.

This product's long name may not use the word "milk," but it still adds a creamy texture to the latte. The beverage's built-in vanilla flavor can also be a pleasant complement to the latte's tastes of coffee and pumpkin.

If you want the base of your pumpkin spice drink to be freshly brewed, consider Trader Joe's Costa Rica Whole Bean Coffee. You'll need a coffee grinder to best use the 100% Arabica beans, but the gentle nutty flavors of this medium roast coffee should be a natural fit for the gently nutty flavor of a pumpkin spice latte. Trader Joe's fans might know this as a limited-time item, but it just joined the permanent lineup and will now be available year-round.

Even people who don't regularly shop here may have heard that mini sheet cakes are some of the very best Trader Joe's bakery items. They're available in many, often seasonal flavors, and ever since 2024, the fall flavor has been pumpkin spice.

The Pumpkin Spice Mini Sheet Cake is a small, moist, pumpkin-y cake topped with cream cheese icing. It's a simple but decadent flavor profile that makes perhaps the most obvious snacking match for a pumpkin spice latte.

Cinnamon is an essential component of the pumpkin spice flavor profile, but this strong-flavored ingredient doesn't always stand out against the other strong flavors of nutmeg, allspice, and ginger.

For the cinna-maniacs out there, Trader Joe's Mini Cinnamon Sugar Cookies can be an exciting food to pair with a pumpkin spice latte. Each tiny, crispy cookie gets a generous dusting of cinnamon sugar that can help bring the cinnamon flavors of a pumpkin spice latte to the forefront.

Brewed Ginger Beer is perhaps the most adventurous Trader Joe's find to add to a pumpkin spice latte — yes, add. Think of it as an autumnal twist to the espresso soda, an established coffee drink that mixes in soda water to make carbonated espresso.

Outside of the gingery notes of a pumpkin spice latte, ginger and coffee is not the most common combination. But it does exist, and the ginger-forward flavor of this mildly carbonated, non-alcoholic brew — or the more complex-tasting Triple Ginger Brew — could turn the venerable PSL into a fizzy fall favorite.

Strictly speaking, lattes are made specifically with espresso. So, delicious as it may be, a pumpkin spice latte made with regular or cold brew coffee is not a true latte. Trader Joe's Ready to Use Espresso Coffee is not the fresh-brewed stuff purists might insist upon, but it can keep your homemade PSL truer to a traditional latte than many store-bought coffee drinks.

Be warned, though: the small size of this bottle is easy to mistake for a single serving of coffee, but it's actually 16 shots of espresso. Do not drink it all at once.

What would a pumpkin spice latte be without pumpkin? It's arguably the most essential component, and the business credited with inventing this drink (eventually) agreed. Since a 2015 recipe change, every Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Latte has been made with real pumpkin puree, similar to Trader Joe's Organic Pumpkin.

The only ingredient in the Trader Joe's can is the name of the product, so you know it's pure. And its relatively thin texture makes it well-suited for liquid purposes, like in coffee drinks. You can even follow Starbucks' recipe for its pumpkin sauce, which, as the company declared, contains real pumpkin.