Pumpkin Spice Season

Who among us does not love the syrupy, seasonally bound gloop? Whether it’s the messy crème egg, the cranberry sauce which belongs only on the Christmas table, or the much hyped, much maligned PSL. I am a great fan of the pumpkin spiced latte: I love pumpkin, I love spice, I love autumn-winter, I love coffee chains. My habitual order is decaf, skimmed, and no cream (why mar that carefully blended spice with high fat content and finish on a layer of plain?)… but habitual is not scientific. Since pumpkin spice became a meme, the PSL has been popping up everywhere, so the natural question is, where should I be going to get my pumpkin coffees?

Enter: the tier list. These are the top 10 of all seasonal lattes in London in 2025 – and trust me, I was comprehensive. Before the leaves are done falling and you switch your preferred coffee flavouring to gingerbread, use my experience to establish where will furnish you with the best autumnal experience.

10 – Dillon’s (aka Waterstone’s café)

This was bad decaf, or perhaps just a mismatch of bold, sour coffee and mellow syrup. Their lovely latte art suggests to me the presence of very competent baristas, so I am blaming the beans on this one. Still, a good flavour on the syrup, and will likely still get this one a lot due to proximity, so clearly not an off-putting experience.

9 – McDonald’s (honeycomb latte)

The coffee in this has a darker roast, to the point where I thought they gave me a plain latte at first. The honeycomb flavour compliments the dark roast, but it doesn’t feel very seasonal. Also, I object to paying £2.99 for something that could be vended from the coffee machine in any office building, though of course this probably is the cheapest coffee in Leicester Square.

8 – Gails – (spiced café au lait)

Honestly, I’m kind of apprehensive of this one: my controversial opinion is that I don’t rate Gail’s (maybe it’s because the one in the Brunswick always burns the raisin croissants on a Sunday morning), and the pretentious name suggests an outlet that thinks it’s too good to be basic. Still, I’m ready to give it a go, because I love spice. Alas, the coffee: burned. I know I habitually drink decaf and that’s a side effect of the process, but if everyone else can do better so can Gail’s. A good blend of spices: I can pick out nutmeg, cinnamon, and allspice. Too low on cinnamon for my taste, but nothing overpowers. A very gentle flavour generally, shame about the aggressive coffee it was paired with. Nice and friendly staff, though!

7 – Starbuck’s, cold

You think a chai frappucino is going to be foul, but no, it was absolutely incredible. Doesn’t blend amazingly well, but if we keep destroying the planet and autumns get hotter we may need this one.

6 – Pret

Spice forward, balanced, relatively reasonably priced (still too expensive, but not breaking £5 which many of these coffees were)

5 – Farmer J (date and toffee latte)

This was an intense flavour, like cinder toffee. More bitter and complex, and dark toffee and natural tasting date was a very complementary flavour to their coffee. 10/10 gloop, which is the first on the list and an under-appreciated component of the seasonal latte game. No spicing, which I’d have preferred, but they weren’t aiming for that. It lost much of the bitterness as you drank down and it became perhaps too sweet by the end? Bonus: their rice pudding syrup works better in matcha, and is just an excellent chai (and a decent matcha actually)

4 – Local village coffee shop, aka basic Monin syrup

Let’s be honest, this is what two thirds of purveyors are using. This particular coffee was thin, but with a good taste. Ultimately coffee is coffee, up to a certain point, and I’d much rather patronise the chatty folk of [redacted place name] making an honest buck, and why pay more? IMO the Monin could have more spice flavour, but an OK amount of gloop.

3 – Noxy Bros

The best coffee yet. A good syrup, but more sweet pastry than spiced – we could definitely have a greater spice content. A great fruity finish.

2 – Starbuck’s, hot

In a surprise seasonal upset, the original is no longer the best: Starbucks comes in at number two. A strong contender in that rating is the price: there is no fucking need for this to cost £5.25 for a small – for that price of a large I could get a bag of specialty roast coffee and two pints of milk. Unfortunately Starbuck’s do have the texture on lock – lord knows what mess of a concoction I’m actually drinking, but the gloop of their syrup is unbeatable. Still, I only bought one from here this season, and will probably not be going for their red cup drinks if they come this dear; it’s good, but it’s not that good.

1 – Ole & Steen

Milk, truly excellent and velvety. Good syrup with very fruity notes. Delicately spiced – more allspice than cinnamon. Could have more coffee notes (interesting, as I don’t really like coffee – could be their decaf being significantly more mild than most), but there isn’t a single acrid note. The spice gets stronger further down the drink – it’s still mellow rather than punchy, and the syrup is thick enough to satisfy. All hail London’s best PSL 2025.

On This Topic:

• The weird coffee man supports my love of pumpkin spice.
• If you don’t perhaps you need to revisit the Defender of the Basic.
• I know myself and have already written about my relationship with Starbucks and nostalgia.

To-Do:

• TALK. TO. YOUR. FRIENDS. Me and my 100+ unread messages are haunting me.
• Grant & Cutler order
• My theory test is booked, so I suppose I should learn the Highway Code…

Today’s Culture:

• Rosalìa’s Lux is a tour de force of an album. I’ve been skirting the edges of being into her music for a while now, with odd songs making it to my playlists, but this album converted me so strongly I’m considering learning Spanish.
• Jane Austen 250 has made me read the books of hers I’d not read before, and I just finished Mansfield Park which was a masterclass in character, nuance, prose, and misdirection. I literally knew what happens at the end because the book is so famous but I started thinking I was wrong.
• I’m about to ink my HongDian (my most glitter-friendly pen) with this. Previously it was inked with this.