Gwynedd Stuart
Ariana Losch
The best pumpkin spice coffee has a good balance of spice, doesn’t taste like steeped potpourri, and warms your soul on a crisp fall morning. We brewed up some of the biggest brands on the market to find the best pumpkin spice coffee you can buy.
How we found all of the pumpkin spice coffee
By the time September rolls around, you can’t swing a stick in the grocery store without hitting at least 15 pumpkin and pumpkin spice products, from pumpkin spice cereal to pumpkin tortilla chips (yes, these actually exist). This is our third season in a row trying every pumpkin spice coffee product, including K-Cups, ground coffee, flavored cold brew, and even canned pumpkin spice lattes.
What we looked for in the best pumpkin spice coffee
- Quality coffee: If the pumpkin spice flavor tries to mask dull, acidic, or overroasted coffee beans, it’s a no from us.
- Light sweetness: It’s pumpkin spice, not pumpkin nice! Any brew that’s too sweet simply can’t be saved.
- Warm spice: Cinnamon, nutmeg, and clove should be cozy, aromatic, and tingly on your tongue without tasting like a Yankee candle.
Here are the best pumpkin spice coffees that actually bring the fall vibes. (And don’t forget to check out our ranking of pumpkin spice creamer if you’d rather just find something to add to your favorite brand of Joe!)
The following article contains affiliate links that may generate a small commission to us when you make a purchase through the link. Learn more about how we work with affiliates here.
- Coffee-mate Pumpkin Spice Iced Coffee
-
Yes, this new Coffee-mate Pumpkin Spice Iced Coffee made our list of the best pumpkin spice coffee, but it comes with a few disclaimers. First of all, this is pretty weak. If you like a robust coffee flavor, this will make you physically angry. It’s not straight iced coffee, it’s more like a milky bottled latte. If you like those bottled Starbucks Frappuccinos, you’ll like this. It’s very pleasant! The pumpkin spice flavor is quite nice, which makes sense given that Coffee-mate also makes our favorite pumpkin spice coffee creamer. We tasted this head to head with Stok’s Pumpkin Creamed bottled cold brew, which had made our list in the past, but I swear that was even weaker than this, so we bumped it from the list. If you’re craving pumpkin spice cold brew, we unfortunately still haven’t found one we like. But if you just want a cold creamy pumpkin spice iced coffee, this will scratch the itch. —Gwynedd Stuart
Credit: Liv Averett / Instacart
- Maud’s Gourmet Coffee It’s the Great Pumpkin, Mrs. Brown Medium Roast K-Cup Pods
-
The name of this coffee is a mouthful and so is its nutmeg flavor. On the whole, we preferred a pumpkin spice coffee in which you couldn’t necessarily isolate one spice flavor over another, but if nutmeg is your thing (and if you like pumpkin spice, it probably is), then this brand of pumpkin spice K-Cups is the way to go. You could even balance things out by adding a flavored creamer that leans to the cinnamon side, like Coffee-mate’s Cinnamon Vanilla Creme. Plus, the coffee itself is roasty and good. —Gwynedd Stuart
Credit: Merc / Amazon
- Good & Gather Pumpkin Spice Light Roast Ground Coffee
-
Cinnamon sticks figure prominently on the packaging of this pumpkin spice coffee from Target house brand Good & Gather, and that makes sense when you take a whiff. I thought this smelled more like mulled cider than coffee; there’s a fruitiness when you take a sip. I couldn’t quite figure out what to attribute it to, but for a coffee that purports to contain a “hint of pumpkin,” it really works nicely. It’s the best pumpkin spice coffee if you like it light bodied and fruity. —Gwynedd Stuart
Credit: Liv Averett / Target
- Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Latte
-
Believe it or not, this is our first time adding a Starbucks pumpkin spice anything to this list. We didn’t like their K-Cups or cold brew concentrate in previous years, mainly because both were distractingly fruity. This big refrigerated bottle of Starbuck’s premade pumpkin spice latte does have a touch of fruity pumpkin, but in a way that actually deepens the flavor, since the coffee itself is already so bold and rich. Honestly, this might be too thick and creamy to use for an Espresso Martini (won’t stop me from trying, though), but you could definitely mix some other interesting fall cocktails with it. And for the Starbucks gals, no, this isn’t a one-to-one match for the drive-thru latte, but it’s still pretty cozy and delicious! —Ariana Losch
Credit: Liv Averett / Target
- Great Value Medium Roast Pumpkin Spice Ground Coffee
-
It may be a medium roast, but this pumpkin spice ground coffee brewed up bold in our coffeemaker. The aroma is a little off-putting (I wrote in my notes that it had “the worst smell of any of the coffees we tried”), but if you can get past that, you’ll be rewarded with a good, strong coffee flavor that avoids dipping into bitterness, even with cinnamon in the mix. If you tend to add a lot of cream to your coffee, this is the best pumpkin spice coffee. —Gwynedd Stuart
Credit: Merc / Walmart
- Dunkin’ Pumpkin Spice Ground Coffee
-
In some pumpkin spice coffee, you mostly taste cinnamon. In others, the nutmeg overpowers everything else. In this Dunkin’ pumpkin spice ground coffee—which we brewed in our cute li’l one-cup coffee maker—you can really taste all of the spices equally, and it makes a beautifully balanced cup of coffee. Plus, you can still taste that classic Dunkin’ flavor in the coffee itself. I personally love Dunkin’ coffee and they make the best pumpkin spice coffee if balance is your thing. —Gwynedd Stuart
Credit: Merc / Instacart
- Trader Joe’s Pumpkin Spice Coffee
-
I got it on good authority from Mythical Chef Josh that this pumpkin spice ground coffee from Trader Joe’s slaps, and he’s right. I think what makes this one special is the addition of orange peel and vanilla bean. So, so many pumpkin spice coffees (and other products) lean heavily on nutmeg and cinnamon, which can become bitter when brewed with coffee beans. This has other flavor agents to brighten things up a bit. It works nicely with the medium-dark roast beans. Best part? Trader Joe’s coffee is cheap, which means you can very easily stock up on some of the best pumpkin spice coffee if you get hooked. —Gwynedd Stuart
Credit: Merc / Trader Joe’s
- The Pioneer Woman Pumpkin Spice Medium Roast
-
The slightly astringent flavor of this medium roast coffee from everyone’s favorite folksy millionaire works pretty well with warm spices like cinnamon and nutmeg. From the aroma to the flavor, it’s much rounder and more interesting than a lot of other pumpkin spice coffee we tried. It’s just pumpkin spice, but it tastes like a cross between hazelnut and pumpkin spice or vanilla and pumpkin spice. It’s pretty refreshing for a warm fall treat. It’s very candle. It’s very craft store, but in a comforting way. Keep an eye out for these pumpkin spice K-Cups. —Gwynedd Stuart
Credit: Liv Averett / Amazon
- New England Coffee Pumpkin Spice K-Cup Pods
-
The pumpkin spice coffee has a really pleasant, really earthy smell—like a spoonful of actual pumpkin was stirred into the coffee. The flavor is lovely, too. It’s pretty subdued, which is a good thing when it comes to pumpkin spice coffee. It’s a little bit cinnamon-y and leaves a nice, warm flavor in your mouth. After trying other pumpkin spice K-Cups during my taste test, I returned to this one and the cinnamon is actually more pronounced than I noticed upon first sip, but that earthiness saves the day. —Gwynedd Stuart
Credit: Liv Averett / Amazon
- Peet’s Coffee Pumpkin Spice K-Cup Pods
-
I live in a neighborhood with a Starbucks and a Peet’s, like, feet from one another (yay, corporate America!), and I gotta say that after tasting this pumpkin spice blend from Peet’s, I may forsake Starbucks in the future. From its well-rounded aroma to its balanced blend of pumpkin pie spices (cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, clove), this coffee is incredibly pleasant. Also, and I can’t stress this enough, Starbucks Pumpkin Spice K-Cups did not taste good. The coffee had an almost fruity aroma and a potpourri-like taste to match. If you’re at the store and have to choose between the two, pick Peet’s. It’s the best pumpkin spice K-Cups two years running. —Gwynedd Stuart
Credit: Merc / Target
- Peet’s Pumpkin Spice Ground Light Roast
-
Is this cheating? Maybe. But y’all, I tried this on my own without knowing how much we loved their K-Cups, and it was by far the best pumpkin spice coffee product I’ve ever had. The delicate light roast blend combined with all of the warm spices makes for a really smooth, well-rounded, easy brew. (Flavored coffee quite often tastes like an experiment gone wrong, but this is downright chuggable.) I need to try this with a sweet cream creamer—it’s not very sweet on its own (a huge plus in my book), just fragrant and clove-y, so you can definitely add whatever kind of cream and sugar you want. Now excuse me while I run to Peet’s just to try their in-house pumpkin spice latte to compare it to Starbucks. I guess I’ve been sleeping on it for years! —Ariana Losch
Credit: Liv Averett / Target
Best Iced Coffee
Best Nutmeg Forward
Best Cinnamon Forward
Best Pumpkin Spice Latte
Best Bold Coffee Flavor
Best Balanced
Best Cheap
Best Celeb Branded
Best Earthy
Runner Up
Best of the Best
Other pumpkin spice coffees we tried in our taste tests
Crazy Cups Vanilla Pumpkin Spice Medium Roast K-Cups, Starbucks Pumpkin Spice K-Cups, Juniors Pumpkin PIe K-Cups, Skinny Girl Pumpkin Spice K-Cups, Stok Cold Brew Pumpkin Creamed, Entennmann’s Pumpkin Spice K-Cups, Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Cold Brew Coffee Concentrate, Trader Joe’s Pumpkin Spice Flavored Cold Brew Coffee Concentrate, Califia Farms Pumpkin Spice Cold Brew Coffee with Almond Milk, La Colombe Pumpkin Spice Latte, Black Rifle Coffee Company Pumpkin Spice
Danny Palumbo
Justine Sterling
Vinz Karl
