4 Fall Drinks For When You’re Tired Of Pumpkin Spice 

As a longtime pumpkin spice hater, fall is a difficult season. Every single fast food restaurant, coffee chain, and even grocery store is filled with plenty of pumpkin spice. So, if you’re anything like me and believe the best way to drink a pumpkin spice coffee is to pour it down the drain, it’s hard to find a beverage that feels like fall but isn’t as cloyingly sweet as a scented candle.

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I did the hard work for you and found four other drinks that taste like fall’s cool, crisp mornings and cozy evenings—without even a hint of pumpkin spice included. 

Chai Tea Or Chai Lattes

When fall-like weather finally arrives in Southern California, I always switch from iced coffee to chai. Chai served as simply tea or turned into a latte is like sipping fall from a cup (and there’s zero pumpkin involved, thank you very much).

Rich, creamy, and slightly sweet, chai’s blend of black tea and aromatic spices like cardamom, cinnamon, and clove make it fall’s version of gingerbread. It’s almost like sipping a spiced cake, but far less sweet. It’ll warm you from head to toe on crisp mornings or chilly evenings—and you can customize it easily with sugar, honey, and milk and pick it up bottled or freshly made.

Starbucks makes a decent chai latte, but Coffee Bean’s is even better, in my opinion. Can’t give up your coffee but still want something fall-inspired? Try a Dirty Chai for a hit of espresso, a tangier flavor kick, and just the right energy boost.

Apple Cider

Before pumpkin spice came on the scene (thanks, Starbucks!), there was another fall drink that reigned supreme: apple cider.

Popularized by apple-picking season, apple cider is still a downright iconic and delicious option to sip during the fall. Slightly sweet and plenty tart with a rich apple flavor, apple cider is apple juice’s more complex cousin. Whether served warm or over ice, it’s a fall favorite that pairs well with cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, and allspice. Plus, you can even sip hard cider versions if you want a more adult-leaning treat.

Bonus points if you can get your hands on freshly-made apple cider. In my opinion, there’s little that can taste as good as warm or chilled cider you’ve picked up right from your local apple orchard (and I’m particularly partial to the jugs from the Julian Cider Mill).

Unfortunately, this year there’s no Apple Crisp lineup at Starbucks, but there’s a new option that just might be a better alternative.

Starbucks Chaider

Speaking of chai and apple cider, Starbucks is introducing a brand-new fall drink this year that just might be the perfect pumpkin spice swap. The Chaider is a blended beverage, but not in the appliance-related sense: It combines chai with apple cider into one spice-filled yet sweet sip.

The new Chaider will feature “cider-inspired flavors, including cinnamon and sweet spice” to capture both the apple-y nature of cider and the warmth of both cider and a typical chai. You can opt to order it hot or over ice, making it versatile for those unexpectedly warm fall days and nights you want to curl up with some extra warmth.

Time will tell if chai and cider become the next viral fall drink, but odds are the flavor profiles will work quite well together thanks to the drinks’ shared spice profiles.

Maple Lattes

Maple is very fall coded, but many people overlook this sweet-leaning flavor because it’s synonymous with syrup (and, you know, pumpkin is pretty overbearing). But back in 2017, maple became a bit more popular when Starbucks introduced its Maple Pecan Latte in the fall—and maple lattes do now appear on plenty of coffee shop menus.

If you haven’t tried a maple latte, you’re missing out on a great fall drink. It’s super easy to make yourself if you have maple syrup on hand (not the faux stuff, obviously) and can whip up a latte with your own coffeemaker. 

But if you’re at your local coffeeshop looking for a fall-worthy sip that isn’t tainted with pumpkin, ask about maple. It’s a sweet, smooth flavor tweak that feels so in season, and it won’t overwhelm your go-to order’s usual taste… or wind up tasting like a heavily-scented fall candle.