Pumpkin spice lattes are the worst. With a whopping 50 grams of sugar and 18 grams of fat in the 16 ounce drink, consuming just one is a sure way to decrease health.

The purpose of coffee is not to be the accessory of an “I’m wrapped up in my favorite flannel sitting next to my fire with my dog and watching the red leaves fall from the maple tree in my backyard as I sip from my pumpkin spice latte” dream. No, coffee is simply made so that the humans of this earth can stay awake. Nothing more and nothing less. However, this goal can’t be accomplished with an excess of ingredients. Dakota Johnson ’18 claims, “The lack of coffee takes away from how awake [coffee] can make me feel, and normally the sugar makes me crash sooner.”

Putting in pumpkin syrup, vanilla syrup, cinnamon, and other ingredients is completely unnecessary towards the goal and flavor of coffee. As Kaja Bingham ’19 says, “Why would you ruin the flavor of coffee if you don’t have to?”

In this day, younger generations flock to Starbucks to buy the $4.95 drink to Snapchat pictures of the signature red cup to friends, or even worse, just drink it for the aesthetic. But this feat seems suspicious to many. Bingham hypothesizes, “No one actually likes them, they just say they do because it’s the fall.” And this is most likely the truth. In sum, the caffeine is not there, and the taste is, as Elie Oxford ‘19 puts it likely, “like sand.” Yes, pumpkin spice lattes are a scam.