The Basic History of Pumpkin Spice

This article originally appeared in our Fall 2026 print issue. It has since been updated, with a more accurate description of the seasonal offerings at Rabble Coffee and removal of a quote from Tellstrom.

HOW A BLEND OF CINNAMON, NUTMEG, CLOVES, AND GINGER TRAVELED VIA ANCIENT TRADE ROUTES TO BECOME OUR FAVORITE FALL RITUAL.

Long before they flavored lattes or candles, pumpkin spice’s signature spices—cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and ginger—were prized across global food cultures. On Pulau Ay in Indonesia’s Banda Islands, archaeologists have found nutmeg residue on pottery dating back 3,500 years, proving just how long humans have been drawn to these warm, aromatic flavors.

By the 16th and 17th centuries, recipes resembling modern “pumpkin spice” appeared in British and Scottish cookbooks. In the Americas, Indigenous communities introduced settlers to pumpkin, a squash native to North America. As more European settlers arrived, they brought their prized spices with them. It wouldn’t be until the late 1790s, long after the “First Thanksgiving,” when Amelia Simmons included two spiced “pompkin” pie recipes in American Cookery that would help cement the flavor in early American identity.

The modern era streamlined things. In the 1930s, companies like McCormick & Co. introduced pre-mixed “pumpkin pie spice.” Then came the early 2000s.

After the success of the Peppermint Mocha in 2002, Starbucks introduced the Pumpkin Spice Latte in limited markets the following year before rolling it out nationwide in 2004. Ironically, the original drink did not actually contain pumpkin until 2015—just cinnamon, nutmeg, clove, and ginger. Still, the drink became a cultural phenomenon, fueled in part by the rise of early social media platforms like Twitter and Instagram. To this day, the Pumpkin Spice Latte remains Starbucks’ top seasonal seller and has sparked an avalanche of pumpkin spice products ranging from cereal and candy to candles and household cleaners.

The flavor has earned a reputation as “basic,” but some local coffee shops are taking it somewhere new. “We like to pay homage to what’s happening around us while also taking customers somewhere they may not have gone before,” said Mitchell Tellstrom, at Indy’s Rabble Coffee.

Although Rabble has a more direct “pumpkin spice” style drink in their squash latte, that philosophy of trying something new inspired their Persimmon Spice Latte, which melds autumnal warming notes while highlighting seasonal persimmons. “It’s not just the makeup of a seasonal drink,” Tellstrom said, noting that the flavor was inspired by his grandmother’s persimmon pudding.

Long before hashtags and latte art, what is now pumpkin spice blend was a part of harvests and gatherings and represented warmth and comfort. Every fall, when these flavors return, we aren’t participating in a trend, but in a tradition that is really quite, well… basic.