Avon Van Hassel

SURPRISE! We’re making pumpkin spice! I tricked you.

I can feel the squeals of delight and the groans of dismay. Neither concern me, we’re pressing on. I have a soapbox, and I will have my say.

This year, as you might have heard Starbuck crowing from the battlements, marks 20 years of the iconic Pumpkin Spice Latte, and we’re marking the occasion by looking at the highs and lows.

‘But, Avon!’ you cry, your brow furrowing. ‘Pumpkin Spice season is the fall, this is December! I’ve narrowly survived/ already moved on to Peppermint Mocha season!’

To that, I say, ‘yes, yes, yes, I know. But I have a reason. Just stick with me.’

First, of all, December is my month for recipes. I’ll explain why sometime next year. Secondly, there is no earthly reason why Sweet Baking Spice Blend should be reserved for just a few months.

Well, there is one earthly reason: marketing.

But let me start from the beginning.

The PSL

Starbucks claims to have invented the Pumpkin Spice Latte (PSL) in January 2003 for their holiday drink line, though the first actual appearance seems to be late 2004. A company in Indiana claims to have invented it 3 years prior. I don’t know which I believe, and I don’t care which is right. If you guys really want to know, comment, and I’ll do a deep dive.

Regardless of who invented it first and when, it took off with a vengeance. The original recipe was a standard latte with a spice syrup, whipped cream, and topped with pumpkin pie spice. In 2015, pumpkin puree and milk were added to the standard mix, turning the drink thicker, slightly more orange, and inaccessible to people who adhere to a dairy-free diet.

More recently, a new crop of pumpkin drinks have evolved. The iced PSL, Pumpkin Spice Frappuccino, the Pumpkin Spice Chai Tea Latte, and my drink of choice, the Pumpkin Cream Cold Brew.

What is it actually?

At its heart, the PSL is a sweet, creamy, spiced espresso drink that capitalises on the association between fall and the spices used in baking. Take apple pie, spice cake, or, you know, pumpkin pie, and put that flavour in coffee. It’s easy math. No wonder it took off.

The blend of spices is commonly referred to as Pumpkin Pie Spice, and if you’ve ever made pumpkin pie, you know that to be cinnamon, cloves, ginger, allspice, and sometimes cardamom, mace, and nutmeg,

Why is it so polarising?

Well, now we’re really getting into it. The meat and potatoes. It’s obvious why so many people love it, so why do so many people hate it? It comes down to a combination of four things: personal taste, marketing, class anxiety, and our old friend, sexism.

Personal taste- ok, fine. I asked one of my more outspoken friends, real talk, where does the hate come from? And he said he doesn’t really like cinnamon. That’s fair, there’s a lot of cinnamon.

Marketing- there is no denying that there is A Lot of hype around PSL season, and not just from Starbucks. Every coffee shop I know of has their own version, now, and even just some places that sell coffee but aren’t actually coffeeshops. There are pumpkin spice truffles, pancake mix, yogurt, dog biscuits, and the infamous Spam. I don’t include home fragrance items in this list because they have always existed, tapping into the same nostalgic place as the PSL, the smell of fall baking. They have the same root, but one is not the ancestor of the other. But the ubiquitous foodstuffs of the season, even with the same name, is a direct result of the popularity of the Starbucks drink. After all, holiday spice baking is the trend, but ‘pumpkin spice’ everything has only existed in the last 20 or so years.

Not to mention that the animosity itself is part of the marketing strategy. Nothing whips up support like a rivalry. Humans love a team sport. Are you #TeamPSL or #TeamAppleCider? As if you have to choose. But Team PSL will do anything to keep the shelves and stores slinging PSL flavoured items. Myself, included.

Class anxiety- Starbucks is expensive. The PSL is expensive, and getting more expensive every year, and so many boast that they must have one every day. It’s such a part of the culture.

It’s become more than a comfort drink, a treat to celebrate the autumn. It’s a lifestyle, an event, an aesthetic of the sort of person who can wander through the riotous foliage at golden hour, taking a thousand selfies with their plaid vest, sherpa boots, expensive drink and perfect hair and makeup. And it’s almost exclusively white.

So, you can imagine the eyerolling as Yass Queen PSL Season rolls around.

But did you notice the other sneaky little thing they all have in common?

Not just white, not just middle class, but also female.

Sexism- Sweet drinks are generally considered girly, strongly flavoured drinks are girly, comforting drinks are girly. And girly is bad. Girly is weak. Girly is undignified. Girly is cringe. Even other women, the Pick Me Girls, insult their own femininity by compulsively eschewing ‘basicness’ in any form it comes in, just for the sake of it. Enter the Basic Ho, Basic Bitch, or Basic Girl, who fits the aesthetic described above in the woods and enjoys her sweet holiday drinks.

It’s sad, really; spiced coffee is good. But god forbid women be allowed to like anything, even something as innocuous as a coffee drink that evokes the nostalgia of autumn comfort food. I think more people, fragile men and Pick Mes, would be happier if they just enjoyed things without wondering if it made them look girly to order it.

The PSL is Not Unique

This section is not for the spice-averse. Skip ahead, cinnamon-haters. You weirdos.

I still love you, though.

Spicing drinks is a common practice in the warmer areas of the world where spices are plentiful.

A lot of history nerds are familiar with the original method of preparing hot chocolate, by the Aztec people. It was a salty, spicy, bitter drink, with chili added to give it kick. It would also have been incredibly oily, as raw cacao (not Dutch or alkali processed, like the powder we’re familiar with) contains all the cocoa butter along with the flavourful solids. It’s also roasted, so it has a lovely smoky, toasty flavour. You can get cocoa beans easily, toast them, and grind them yourself, or you can get bricks of (sweetened) hot chocolate from Hispanic markets, or even check out Crio Bru, a company that sells roasted and ground cacao to use like coffee. Just add chili and whatever other spices you want, and you’re there.

Another traditional Mexican drink is Cafe de Olla, which is coffee brewed in an olla, or large ceramic pot, sweetened with piloncillo (the modern sugarloaf), and a mix of spices, usually cinnamon, cloves, and ginger. Possibly also chili, if you’re not a wimp like me. Add cream, and you have a more watery PSL.

Then, of course, we have the queen of spiced drinks, the Masala Chai. In case you don’t know, chai simply means tea, it doesn’t necessarily have to do with spices. ‘Cha’ is the word for tea in many Asian countries (matCHA, kombuCHA, etc) including India, where the most common blends of chai come from, and where we got the associations with the spiced beverage. Again, the standard spices are cinnamon, clove, ginger, anise, and cardamon, though others are also allowed, according to regional traditions. Then, it is sweetened with sugar or honey, and sometimes cream is added. The tea version of a PSL.

For some reason, these drinks don’t inspire the hate that the PSL does. I suspect it’s the, you know, capitalism and sexism. But racism probably contributes to why they’re not as popular. With the exception of the enduring love for chai, which probably has something to do with Imperialism and Britain’s colonisation of India.

I wrote a blog post about tea in Britain, but I could definitively dive deeper, if there is interest.

Recipe

Now, it wouldn’t be a Cauldron post if I didn’t include a recipe, so we’re going to create our own Sweet Baking Spice blend for you to put wherever you fucking want to.

You’re going to need:

• Sweet or Ceylon cinnamon chips
• Whole cloves
• Dried ginger
• Cardamom pods
• Mace threads
• Allspice seeds
• Nutmeg pods
• Anise seeds
• A spoon
• A container, like a jar. Glass is best.

*Note: spices can still sometimes be quite pricey. If you would rather get pre powdered versions in shaker bottles or can’t, or don’t want to, get all of these, just get what you want. The only one I really suggest you try to find is the Ceylon cinnamon chips or powdered. Most cinnamon you get in the store is cassia cinnamon, or ‘hot’ cinnamon, which is much cheaper to produce. Ceylon cinnamon has a sweeter, almost creamy flavour and it really changes the profile. This list just represents the natural form these spices take, pick and choose according to your taste and budget.

Steps:

• Have a sniff of all of your collected ingredients. Pick your favourite, and make it your base. For me, it’s cinnamon.
• Next, pick your least favourite of your assembled spices. For me, it’s cardamom. Still essential, but I find it shines brightest in small quantities.
• Pick a spoon to use as your measure. I prefer to write my recipes according to ratios, rather than precise measurements, because it’s easier to scale up and down, as needed.
• Into a jar, add three scoops of your favourite spice, one scoop of your least favourite, and two scoops each of your middle favourites. For me, those are clove, ginger, and pink rose petals. Because I’m a fancy girl. (My chai blend is based on a Persian recipe)
• With the handle of your spoon, mix the spices until they’re blended. Have a sniff and see if you like the balance.
• Add more of the spices you need more of, keeping a tally of how many scoops you’re using, so you can recreate it later.
• Once you have a blend you’re happy with, save the recipe somewhere safe, and label the jar. Store it in a cool, dark place so that the volatile oils don’t degrade.
• If you have the blend in the whole forms, you can add them to loose leaf tea (a pinch will do), or to a French press, coffee basket, or reusable K Cup to spice your coffee. You can put them into a coffee grinder- or mortar and pestle, if you’re old school- and grind fine to add to espresso drinks, or any other place you put spices.
• Enjoy with abandon. Seriously. Get obnoxious with it.

So, there you have it, the definitive rant on Pumpkin Spice. Go forth and enjoy the holidays with Sweet Baking Spice Blend!