The Pumpkin Spice Latte returns to US Starbucks stores on August 25, 2026, one day earlier than its 2025 return. It was created in 2003, tested in about 100 stores in Vancouver and Washington DC, and rolled out nationally in 2004. A grande carries about 150mg of caffeine. Those are the PSL numbers that survive a source check. This page collects them, links every one to where it came from, and names the popular PSL statistics we refuse to republish because they do not trace to Starbucks.
TL;DR: the five headline PSL statistics for 2026
- 2026 return date: Tuesday, August 25, 2026, announced by Starbucks in early August (Starbucks newsroom, as reported by LiveNOW from FOX, August 5, 2026).
- 2025 return date: August 26, 2025 (Starbucks press release).
- Created in 2003 by a Starbucks espresso team led by product manager Peter Dukes, market-tested in about 100 stores in Vancouver, British Columbia and Washington, DC, then rolled out to all US stores in 2004 (Starbucks Newsroom retrospective, 2014, as reported by Washingtonian).
- Caffeine: about 150mg in a grande (16 oz), the figure Starbucks publishes, which Starbucks itself describes as an estimate (The Takeout, citing Starbucks). The FDA cites 400mg a day as the amount not generally associated with negative effects in healthy adults (FDA).
- There is no published PSL price series and no Starbucks-disclosed lifetime unit count. Both of the figures usually quoted for those are media estimates, traced below.
PSL launch dates, year by year
Starbucks announces the fall menu by press release each summer, so return dates are documented from the company itself. We only list years where we could find the primary announcement or a dated report of it:
| Year | Event | Date |
|---|---|---|
| 2003 | Market test, about 100 stores in Vancouver BC and Washington DC | Fall 2003 |
| 2004 | Rollout to all US Starbucks stores | 2004 |
| 2025 | PSL returns with the fall menu | August 26, 2025 |
| 2026 | PSL returns with the fall menu | August 25, 2026 |
The pattern worth noting is the drift: the PSL now lands in the last week of August, weeks before the equinox. We do not have primary announcements for every year in between, so we are not filling the gaps with reconstructed dates.
What is on the 2026 fall menu
Starbucks named the 2026 fall lineup in the same announcement. New this year: the Iced Pumpkin Cream Shaken Espresso, Pumpkin Spice Chai, Iced Pumpkin Cream Matcha, and the Chaider, a cider-inspired chai. Returning: the Pumpkin Spice Latte, Pumpkin Cream Cold Brew, Iced Pumpkin Cream Chai, and the Pumpkin Spice Frappuccino blended beverage (Starbucks newsroom, linked above). We checked the live Starbucks menu API on August 15, 2026 and no pumpkin beverage was listed yet, which is consistent with an August 25 start.
The caffeine number
A grande (16 oz) Pumpkin Spice Latte contains about 150mg of caffeine, the same as a grande Caffe Latte, because it is a standard two-shot grande espresso build with pumpkin spice sauce and spice topping. Starbucks publishes this figure on its menu listing and states that its caffeine values are approximate. Our full breakdown, including the iced version and other sizes, is in the Pumpkin Spice Latte caffeine guide, and the number sits in our caffeine database with the rest of the Starbucks menu.
For context, the FDA cites 400mg a day, roughly two to three 12-ounce cups of coffee, as an amount not generally associated with negative effects for healthy adults (FDA). A grande PSL is about 38% of that. This is information, not health advice.
The PSL numbers we cut
Two figures dominate PSL coverage and neither is a Starbucks disclosure.
"Over 600 million sold." This traces to media reporting from August 2022, not to any Starbucks filing or press release. Earlier versions of the same claim put the total at over 200 million in 2013 and around 424 million in 2019. Starbucks has never published a cumulative PSL unit count in its SEC filings, and it does not break out seasonal beverage volume. Treat every version of this number as an estimate of unknown method.
PSL price history. Starbucks prices vary by store, market, and licensee, and the company does not publish a menu price series. Any "the PSL cost $X in 2004 and $Y now" table you see is assembled from scattered anecdotes. What is documented is the input backdrop: the US city average price of ground roast coffee was $9.32 per pound in July 2026 against $6.12 in January 2024, per BLS series APU0000717311, and whole milk was $4.31 per gallon (APU0000709112). The full picture is on our coffee price statistics page, and the at-home comparison is in the PSL at-home cost math.
Search volume and "pumpkin spice economy" figures. We do not publish either. The search numbers circulating are third-party tool estimates presented as fact, and the category spend figures come from paywalled summaries with no published methodology.
How to cite this page
Suggested citation: "Pumpkin Spice Latte statistics 2026, Barista Life (baristalife.co), reviewed August 15, 2026. https://baristalife.co/blogs/blog/psl-statistics-2026"
Quote any statistic here with attribution and a link to Barista Life, and credit Starbucks, FDA, or BLS as the underlying source where linked. Caffeine figures are also in our free dataset.
Related reading
- Coffee statistics 2026: the flagship roundup
- Cold brew statistics 2026
- How much caffeine is in a Pumpkin Spice Latte
- The homemade Pumpkin Spice Latte recipe
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Gear from this guide
FAQ
When does the Pumpkin Spice Latte come back in 2026? Tuesday, August 25, 2026, per Starbucks' own fall menu announcement. That is one day earlier than the 2025 return of August 26.
How much caffeine is in a Pumpkin Spice Latte? About 150mg in a 16 oz grande, the figure Starbucks publishes and describes as an estimate. That is roughly 38% of the 400mg daily amount the FDA cites for healthy adults.
When was the Pumpkin Spice Latte invented? It was developed in 2003 by a Starbucks espresso team led by product manager Peter Dukes, tested in about 100 stores in Vancouver and Washington DC that fall, and rolled out to all US stores in 2004.
Last reviewed: August 15, 2026. Menu dates and caffeine figures are as published by Starbucks; price context from BLS. Information, not health advice.
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