Tips From an Expert: Finding the Best Pumpkin Spice Latte

If you don’t find a commercially produced pumpkin spice latte that’s to your liking, try making one yourself. It’s surprisingly easy. Photo by Cynthia Hochswender
The arrival of the Pumpkin Spice Latte to the Starbucks menu has become a harbinger of autumn since 2004, when it was first released.
Now, more than 15 years later, almost every establishment that sells coffee in America has its own pumpkin spice latte recipe that it sells from late September through October.
The pumpkin spice latte, or “PSL” as it’s sometimes called, is a coffee drink that combines all the tastes you associate with pumpkin pie: pumpkin flavoring, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, cloves.
Over the years I have become a connoisseur of all things pumpkin spice. I’ve taste-tested nearly every PSL product on the market — so you don’t have to.
The most famous, of course, is the one offered by Starbucks. Their version is classic and quite good — especially the Pumpkin Spice Frappuccino (a cold, blended drink) and Pumpkin Cream Cold Brew (cold-brew coffee topped with sweet, pumpkin-flavored cream). These are menu items unique to Starbucks.
However, if you just want a classic hot, pumpkin spice latte, and if you don’t feel like driving for 45 minutes or more to get to a Starbucks, I would recommend getting one from McDonald’s or Dunkin’ Donuts. Brand snobs might argue otherwise, but the hot pumpkin spice latte from these three chains offer essentially the same experience. If you want a hit of caffeinated PSL this Pumpkin Spice Season, I don’t think you’d miss out by going to McD or Dunkin’ instead of Starbucks.
Cumberland Farms (which has filling station/convenience stores in Amenia, N.Y., Millerton, N.Y., Great Barrington, Mass., and Torrington, Conn.) has a make-your-own pumpkin spice latte syrup with their other coffee condiments, next to the milk, sugar and creamers. You can add as many shots of syrup as you’d like to your coffee for either a more subtle or a maximized version. Cumbies also offers a pumpkin cappuccino from its cappuccino machine that will be well-received by anyone with a sweet tooth.
There’s also a variety of pumpkin spice coffees and creamers you can buy at your grocery store, including non-dairy options. My favorites are the Pumpkin Spice Latte Cold Brew Coffee with Almond Milk by Califia, which has nice notes of cinnamon and nutmeg and is mild enough that you don’t feel like you’re drinking a dessert. I also like the Chameleon brand pumpkin spice oat milk latte, which is more spicy than sweet, differentiating it from many of the PSLs on the market.
If you’re not a coffee drinker, Harney & Sons tea company, based in Millerton, has a Pumpkin Spice Tea.
If you are staying homebound due to quarantine, we’ve found a recipe for a pumpkin spice latte that you can make yourself at home.
This is from the website www.sweetsteep.com; the recipe was developed by a woman whose daughter was a barista at Starbucks. We found it was easy to make and tasted just like the Starbucks PSL — or actually, a little bit better.
We happened to have a couple cans of Libby’s canned pumpkin in the pantry; when we went to the grocery store to pick up a few more cans we were surprised to find that none of the area grocery stores that we visited had any in stock.
The internet isn’t indicating that there is a canned pumpkin shortage this year, as there was in 2015. We were shopping in late September, so it’s possible that it was just a bit too early for the stores to be stocking it.
Some stores have the One-Pie brand of canned pumpkin, which gets high marks from users on the internet.
However, if you are unable to find canned pumpkin (and be sure you do not buy canned pumpkin pie mix, which already has spices added) there is still time to buy a baking or pie pumpkin at your local farm stand. Roast and puree the flesh, scoop it out of the shell and remove the seeds. Then be sure to puree the roasted flesh and then run it through a food mill. To give it more body, you can add roasted butternut squash or sweet potato; fresh pumpkin is always a little more stringy and watery than the canned version.
Pumpkin Spice Latte Syrup
Adapted from www.sweetsteep.com
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup water
2/3 cup pumpkin puree
One 14-ounce can of sweetened condensed milk
1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
1/4 teaspoon salt
You can buy premade pumpkin pie spice, but you probably have all the ingredients for it in your pantry already. Save yourself some money, and use up your spices before they start to lose their flavor.
Most of the spice recipes we found are variations on a few basic ingredients. The Martha Stewart recipe worked fine, but almost any other recipe will be just as good. Combine 3 tablespoons of ground cinnamon, 2 teaspoons of ground ginger, a teaspoon of ground nutmeg, a teaspoon of ground allspice and a half teaspoon of ground cloves. If you don’t have any allspice, don’t go out and buy some just for this.
To make the pumpkin spice latte syrup, first make a simple sugar by combining a half cup of water and a half cup of sugar in a small saucepan over medium heat. The sugar will dissolve into the water and then begin to boil; when it does, turn the heat to low and add the pumpkin puree, the condensed milk, the pie spice and the salt. Stir them together for a couple minutes over low heat and then set the mix aside and let it cool.
Be sure that you use condensed milk, which is thick and sweet, and not evaporated milk or any other canned milk product. The two most common brands around here are Magnolia from Borden’s, which was made here in the Tri-state region for many years by the Borden family; and Eagle Brand (and actually, Eagle makes the Magnolia milk too).
When you’re ready to make a latte, you don’t have to use espresso, you can just make coffee (as strong or weak as you like). I use about two tablespoons of syrup for each normal-sized cup of coffee; experiment until you find the amount that you like.
You don’t need to add milk —but if you have a milk frother you can of course scoop some on top of your latte, and sprinkle a little dusting of pie spice over the top.
AMENIA — The first day of school on Thursday, Sept. 4, at Webutuck Elementary School went smoothly, with teachers enthusiastically greeting the eager young students disembarking from buses. Excitement was measurable, with only a few tears from parents, but school began anyway.
Ready for her first day of school on Thursday, Sept. 4, at Webutuck Elementary School, Liliana Cawley, 7, would soon join her second grade class, but first she posed for a photo to mark the occasion.Photo by Leila Hawken
The main entrance to Kent Hollow Mine at 341 South Amenia Road in Amenia.
AMENIA — Amenia residents and a Wassaic business have filed suit against the Town Board and Kent Hollow Inc., alleging a settlement between the town and the mine amounts to illegal contract zoning that allows the circumvention of environmental review.
Petitioners Laurence Levin, Theodore Schiffman and Clark Hill LLC filed the suit on Aug. 22. Town officials were served with documents for the case last week and took first steps in organizing a response to the suit at the Town Board meeting on Thursday, Sept. 4.
The lawsuit is the latest in a multi-year long legal battle surrounding the mine on South Amenia Road. After Kent Hollow Inc. — a subsidiary of Bethel, Connecticut, based homebuilder Steiner Inc. — applied for a state mining permit in 2017, the Amenia code enforcement officer issued the business a notice of violation.
At the time, Kent Hollow Inc. did not possess a special permit to conduct mining operations as required by Amenia zoning code, and the property did not reside in the Special Mining Overlay district established as part of rezoning efforts coinciding with the 2007 adoption of the town’s comprehensive plan.
Kent Hollow Inc. appealed the violation, claiming the use of the property as a mine predates amendments to town and state regulations. The Zoning Board of Appeals denied the appeal citing insufficient evidence in 2019. That spurred Kent Hollow to file two lawsuits — one in the New York State Supreme Court and a federal civil rights lawsuit — challenging the town’s order.
In July 2025, those lawsuits were brought to a close when the Town Board voted at a special meeting to accept a settlement agreement allowing Kent Hollow to continue mining operations under limited hours and quantities.
The most recent suit alleges the 2025 settlement amounts to contract zoning that allows Kent Hollow Inc. to skirt environmental review and the scrutiny of the permitting and rezoning process. Court documents allege Kent Hollow did not adequately prove a continuous, legal nonconforming use.
Supporting the argument, petitioners have submitted the court documents and decision from the 2019 New York Supreme Court case against the town Zoning Board of Appeals, and the documents from the preceding ZBA appeals process including receipts and tax returns from Kent Hollow Inc. purporting to establish the nonconforming use.
Kent Hollow Inc. formed as a subsidiary of housing developer Steiner Inc. and purchased the property in 1971, according to state and county real estate records.
Millerton News reporting from 1971 Amenia planning board meetings detail Kent Hollow’s pursuit of a four-section, 40-unit apartment complex on the property.
The News reported Kent Hollow was granted tentative approval on July 6, 1971, to build eight units on the site with the expectation that more would be built later.
The additional units never came to fruition and Kent Hollow apparently abandoned the housing project, opting to use the property as a gravel mine.
Attorneys for the Town of Amenia or Kent Hollow Inc. have not filed responses to the lawsuit as of press time.
AMENIA — While the courage and perseverance of Revolutionary era patriots is well understood and celebrated, the stories of the fate of British loyalists in New York are not as clear.
Seen as the initial event in observance of the 250th anniversary of the American Revolution, the Amenia Historical Society will present a talk titled, “The Plight of a Loyalist in Revolutionary New York,” examining the journal of Cadwallader Colden, Jr., spanning the period of 1777-1779. The speaker will be noted author, genealogist and historian Jay Campbell.
The talk is scheduled for Saturday, Sept. 27, at 2 p.m. at the Smithfield Presbyterian Church in Amenia. The handicapped-accessible church is located at 656 Smithfield Valley Road. Refreshments will be served.
Colden was the son of a New York Lieutenant Governor. He was a surveyor, farmer and mercantilist, serving as a judge in Ulster County. His fortunes changed dramatically with the dawn of the Revolutionary War when he remained loyal to the British Crown. His arrest came in 1776, just before the start of his journal.
Campbell is a historian specializing in Hudson Valley history, and the regional stories of Revolutionary era families.
Erin Rollins of Millbrook in the Fashion Feed booth, open year round, at the Millbrook Antiques Mall. All proceeds from Fashion Feeds go to the Food of Life Pantry. As an interior designer by trade, Rollins designed this booth to evoke a high-end department store to align with the designer brands she carries.
MILLERTON — The Townscape 50/50 raffle drawing has collected a pot of more than $7,000.
That raffle drawing will take place this Saturday at 2 p.m. in Veteran’s Park. The moment is not just about picking a winner, but also about reflecting on how far Townscape has come since its humble beginnings in 1998, when founder Catherine Fenn — alongside Renee Vollen and Jan Gilmor — first set out to beautify her beloved village.
Fenn’s connection to Millerton runs deep. “I moved here from the Bronx when I was eight years old and fell in love with the place, even as a child,” she recalled, remembering camping trips at Rudd Pond and enjoying the quiet pace of life.
At 15, her family relocated to southern Connecticut. “My dad didn’t think there was much here for us, so we moved. I left kicking and screaming, literally, and I said, ‘Someday I’m coming back.’”
Years later, after marrying, divorcing, and raising children, Fenn kept that promise. She returned to Millerton and married a childhood friend who was very involved in the fire department. After his passing, Fenn threw herself into her own way of giving back.
“I care about this village deeply. Townscape is my way of helping Millerton be the best it can be,” she said.
What began as an informal effort to gather volunteers and plant flowers eventually blossomed into something larger. “We started with flowers up and down Main Street — barrels of them everywhere. Then it grew into benches, tables, trees and even events. It was such a fun world, a really wonderful organization with so many people involved.”
Fenn’s service to the community extends beyond beautification. She spent roughly two decades on the Planning Board, served as Town Supervisor and worked with the county housing authority. Still, her passion for flowers, trees and landscapes has left the most visible mark on Millerton — shaping not only how the village looks, but how it feels.
In 2006, Townscape became a nonprofit organization. But beautification, Fenn admits, isn’t always the easiest cause to fund. “We’re just putting flowers out — and I shouldn’t say ‘just,’ because to me it’s really important. The trees, the benches, all of it matters. But it’s not high on most people’s list when they think about charitable donations. Still, people have been wonderfully generous over the years.”
This Saturday’s raffle drawing is one way neighbors can show their support. The winner does not have to be present to claim the prize, but those who stop by can enjoy cookies, lemonade and artwork by local creators on display in the park.