PSL vs regular latte: which has more caffeine?

A Pumpkin Spice Latte and a regular Starbucks latte have identical caffeine: 75mg in a tall and 150mg in a grande, hot or iced, per Caffeine Informer's Starbucks guide, which lists the Caffe Latte and the PSL at the same figure in every size. The pumpkin spice sauce is sugar, condensed skim milk, pumpkin puree, and spices; it contributes zero caffeine. Both drinks are the same espresso shots under different toppings, so if you are choosing between them for the caffeine, there is nothing to choose.

PSL vs regular latte, size by size

Every cell pairs off, per Caffeine Informer: the hot Caffe Latte runs 75, 75, 150, 150 across short to venti, iced lattes run 75, 150, 225 from tall to venti, and the PSL matches in both directions. The full seasonal history of those numbers is in our PSL caffeine breakdown.

Why the syrup cannot move the number

Starbucks lattes are built as shots plus steamed milk, and every flavored latte on the menu, pumpkin included, is the plain build with sauce or syrup added. Caffeine lives in the coffee, so the only levers that change it are shot count and roast. That is why the venti column is the interesting one: a hot venti keeps the grande's two shots and stays at 150mg, while the iced venti adds a third shot and jumps to 225mg. Same drink name, 75mg apart. Our latte caffeine guide maps that shot logic across every chain, not just Starbucks.

The one swap that genuinely changes the math is the roast. Ask for Blonde Espresso and each shot runs 85mg instead of 75mg, per Caffeine Informer's Blonde table, which lists the Blonde latte at 170mg in a grande. That works on the PSL too: a Blonde grande PSL carries about 170mg. The lighter roast reads mellower in the cup, which is exactly backwards from what most people expect; the details are in our Blonde Espresso profile.

Where the two drinks actually differ

Sugar and calories. The regular latte's sweetness is whatever you add; the PSL arrives with roughly 50g of sugar and 390 calories in a grande with 2% milk and whip, per Tasting Table. So the honest comparison is not caffeine, it is dessert load. If you want the fall flavor with a plain latte's profile, one pump of sauce instead of the full build gets close. What is actually in that sauce is covered in what is in a Pumpkin Spice Latte, and the rest of the season's numbers live in the fall menu caffeine tracker.

For context, the FDA cites 400mg of caffeine a day as an amount generally not associated with negative effects in healthy adults. How caffeine affects you depends on your own tolerance and health, so treat these numbers as information, not advice.

Related reading

• PSL caffeine by size
• Latte caffeine, every chain
• The caffeine database hub

FAQ

Does a Pumpkin Spice Latte have more caffeine than a regular latte? No. Both are 75mg in a tall and 150mg in a grande at Starbucks, because the PSL is a regular latte with pumpkin spice sauce added, and the sauce has no caffeine.

Does pumpkin spice sauce have caffeine? No. The sauce is sugar, condensed skim milk, pumpkin puree, and spices. Every milligram in the drink comes from the espresso shots underneath.

Is a PSL stronger iced or hot? Identical at tall and grande. The split is at venti: a hot venti has two shots for 150mg while an iced venti has three for 225mg, and that holds for both the PSL and the regular latte.