With the arrival of the new school year and the launch of the fall menus, Starbucks and Dunkin’ in Urbana are at a point of competition with their customers. Both chains released fall-themed beverages featuring similar flavors, prompting the question: what sets them apart, and which one offered the better fall experience?
Coffee Quality
The base of any seasonal drink is the coffee itself. Its flavor can make or break the entire beverage. Reportedly, the iced pumpkin spice latte from Starbucks has a pleasant and sweet coffee—however, our interviewer (sophomore at Urbana) said that as time passes, it gets watered down.
Dunkin’s version, in contrast, left a less favorable impression. The reviewer remarked, “Dunkin’s couldn’t decide if it wanted to be sweet or bitter,” ultimately discarding the drink halfway through due to its unpleasant flavor.
Seasonal Flavor Profile
A fall drink is expected to embody the season with every sip. Starbucks delivered strongly in this category. According to another reviewer (sophomore in Urbana), it tasted like a “warm Thanksgiving day,” with distinct notes of sweet, spiced pumpkin. This seasonal richness was praised—until, once again, the flavor diminished with time and dilution.
Dunkin’s drink fell short in comparison. It was described as much milkier, offering what was referred to as a “milked-down pumpkin” taste. When separated from the already criticized coffee, the flavor lacked the boldness typically associated with fall beverages.
Toppings: Whipped Cream
Toppings like whipped cream contribute significantly to the overall drink experience. Starbucks iced pumpkin spice latte presented its standard whipped cream, sprinkled with pumpkin spice. Despite the fact that the whipped cream reportedly “leaves a film on the top of your mouth,” with no exception to this drink, it was noted that it wasn’t a total dealbreaker.
Similarly, Dunkin’s drink featured its regular whipped cream along with pumpkin spice, cinnamon sugar, and a drizzle of caramel on top. These toppings added to the drink’s fall flavor, though they could not fully compensate for the coffee’s flavor.
Visual Appeal
The ancient Roman gourmand Apicius coined the phrase, “We eat first with our eyes.” So how do the drinks present visually? The Starbucks pumpkin spice latte displayed a distinctly orange tint—an appearance that some found artificial, while others thought to enhance the autumn feature.
Dunkin’s version maintained a standard light brown coffee color. While this looked more natural to some, others felt it lacked the seasonal flair that makes fall drinks stand out. Furthermore, this didn’t have much of an impact on people’s perception of the drink, as shown in the popularity that the drink had.
Popularity in Urbana
A blind taste test was conducted in Urbana high school to determine which drink was more often preferred. We did this because some people’s opinions may be swayed by their brand loyalty, so a blind taste test would take out the preconceived answer to which store is better. In this test, we not only tested the pumpkin spice lattes, but also the pumpkin cream cold brews. More participants initially identified as Dunkin’ fans (red), and the overall preference showed this when drinks were evaluated without brand labels. The graph shows how Dunkin beverages, indicated by taller bars on the results graph, were preferred overall by many.
Conclusion
Both Starbucks and Dunkin’s drinks attempted to capture autumnal features, but their performances differed across key aspects. Ultimately, the blind taste test revealed that Dunkin was more favored to Urbana high school students, demonstrating that when it comes to fall flavor, the brand might matter less than what’s inside the cup.
