History is written by the victors, which is why the Pumpkin Spice Latte is generally accepted to be a Starbucks creation. By their own retelling, the PSL was first created in spring of 2003 at the “Liquid Lab, a secure research and development space on the 7th floor of Starbucks headquarters in Seattle.” Their version even has the folksy sort of meet-cute aha moment where team members “would sample a forkful of pumpkin pie followed by a sip of hot espresso.”
The actual history is a bit murkier. In her deep dive on the subject, Sprudge editor Liz Clayton notes that Pumpkin Pie Spice was created in the ‘30s by spice company McCormick, who then shortened the name in the ‘60s to just Pumpkin Spice. The tradition of adding spices to coffee is centuries older than even that, so where the PSL truly started is anyone’s guess.
And there’s a new alternative history of the Pumpkin Spice Latte and it predates Starbucks by a decade. Everyone knows the Pumpkin Spice Latte was created in Seattle, but what this argument presupposes is: maybe it was Tori Amos?
Yes, that Tori Amos. The grunge-era queen of the piano. The singer-songwriter known for hits like Crucify and Cornflake Girl.
Stereogum unearthed an article out of the September 1994 edition of The Rocket, a Seattle-based free bi-weekly music magazine. It reads as follows:
Tori Amos has an idea. But not an idea for a song—a new drink. Returning to Seattle for her second visit this year, Amos is eager to find an audience for her latest experiment in beverage concoction. “You have all your Starbucks thing,” she says. “Well, I have one that tastes like pumpkin pie. It’s my own invention; it’s my contribution to Halloween. A little witch warmer!”
Amos’ most ardent fans would probably say she hardly needs to resort to creating pumpkin lattes to bewitch a crowd…
This is history altering stuff. It’s one thing for someone to say, “you know I actually invented the Pumpkin Spice Latte before Starbucks,” which is probably a story a lot of people have some version of. But it’s another thing entirely for it to be in print, time-stamped, and attributed to one of the most widely recognized musicians at the time. In the same city as the Starbucks claim to boot. I am admittedly not a fan of the PSL, due mostly to the fact you can get it in August, which feels like the sweaty final throes of late-stage capitalism. But if you were to tell me Tori Amos called it “a little witch warmer” and a Halloween contribution, then sign me up.
So until proven otherwise, Tori Amos is officially the creator of the Pumpkin Spice Latte who seeded the cultural consciousness of the Seattle coffee drinking public, from which Starbucks plucked the idea and turned it into what it has become today. At the very least it’s a much better story than some R&D boner getting an idea from a mouthful of pumpkin pie and espresso.
Zac Cadwalader is the managing editor at Sprudge Media Network and a staff writer based in Dallas. Read more Zac Cadwalader on Sprudge.
