Starbucks’ Pumpkin Spice Latte Will Finally Be Made With Real Pumpkin

In a blog announcement, Peter Dukes, Starbucks’ director of espresso and brewed coffee, said that the chain listened to its customers and decided to make a change to the popular formula this season.

Starbucks Corp.is changing the recipe for its pumpkin spice latte a year after the coffee-shop chain was criticized for using artificial ingredients in the beverage.

The “real pumpkin” is actually “pumpkin spice flavored sauce” with ingredients Starbucks says are “sugar, condensed skim milk, pumpkin puree, 2 percent or less of fruit and vegetable juice for color, natural flavors, annatto (color), potassium sorbate (preservative), and salt”. And this fall is already shaping up to be better than last fall, because Starbucks announced today that it has added a brand new ingredient to its signature seasonal drink: actual pumpkin.

Panera meanwhile, said its new pumpkin spice latte will be made “entirely without artificial colors, flavors, sweeteners, preservatives or high fructose corn syrup”.

There’s still no word on when the drink is headed back to barista counters, but a company rep told CNBC, “it was coming soon”.