I know everyone has some pretty strong feelings about the OG fall drink, the Starbucks pumpkin spice latte. Personally, I always enjoy just one good PSL each year. But I can understand how some people are repulsed by pumpkin spice, since Americans have really let the obsession go a little far with everything from pumpkin spice cream cheese, pumpkin spice popcorn and even pumpkin spice hummus gracing supermarket shelves.
This year, Starbucks has released a brand-new, limited edition autumn flavor — just in time for Rosh Hashanah (clearly they did this for us, right?!): the apple crisp macchiato, which you can get either iced or hot. The timing felt too good to be true, and I knew I had to try it. Now, I fancy myself a bit of a coffee nerd, but I have never ordered a macchiato so I had to look it up. Apparently, it has less milk than a latte or cappuccino, so it has a bold espresso flavor, and no foamy milk on top.
I have to hand it to Starbucks, they know how to sell a drink, and the IACM (hmm, less catchy than PSL) is no exception: “Layered flavors of apple and brown sugar meld like the filling of a gooey apple pie in harmony with espresso, milk, ice and a caramelized-spiced apple drizzle—a nostalgic autumn pick-me-up.” This basically breaks down to two shots of espresso plus three pumps of apple brown sugar syrup.
The apple crisp macchiato looks just like your average latte but with an extra caramel drizzle on top. It smells strongly like apple, and the prevalent taste is sweet caramel. Absolutely delightful. I couldn’t detect a bolder espresso flavor at all, in fact, it just tasted like a very sweet latte with a bit of apple and caramel notes. Would I order it all the time? Unlikely. And I think I would still choose a PSL over this. But it was not gross at all, and perhaps even delicious for those who like flavored drinks.
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