Pumpkin spice latte: recipe, spice mix, no-machine version

The first cool morning and you already know what you’ll be drinking for the next three months. Pumpkin spice latte comes back onto café menus everywhere. Made at home, it can be better, and no harder: you decide on the coffee, how much sugar goes in the glass, and whether pumpkin makes an appearance at all.

Here’s everything you need: the pumpkin spice mix with proportions, a recipe in three versions, an iced version and a no-machine version. At the end, honest numbers on how much sugar and caffeine you’re actually getting.

Pumpkin spice latte with whipped cream and cinnamon.

What is a pumpkin spice latte?

Pumpkin spice latte is a caffè latte with a warming spice mix and a sweet, pumpkin-flavoured element added. The base is simple: espresso and steamed milk. The spices and how it’s sweetened are what give the drink its character.

The name is misleading, and that’s where most of the confusion comes from. Pumpkin spice is a spice mix, not a pumpkin flavour. It’s the same mix used to season pumpkin pie in the US. There’s no single fixed recipe. Most commonly it’s cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and cloves, sometimes with allspice too. Pumpkin itself has a very mild, faintly sweet taste. In the drink it does more for texture and colour than for aroma.

Our own experience points to a simple conclusion. A drink made from pumpkin alone, with no spices, tastes bland. A version with just the spices and no pumpkin turns out surprisingly close to the full recipe. Pumpkin does change the texture, colour and flavour, though, so it isn’t a neutral extra. If you have to pick one, pick the spices.

What’s actually in a pumpkin spice mix

There’s no single fixed recipe. Blends vary between brands, and some skip allspice altogether. We use five spices in a ratio that’s easy to remember: each one is half the amount of the one before it.

Spice	Parts	Role in flavour
Cinnamon	16	Base, warmth, perceived sweetness
Ginger	8	Sharpness, freshness, a counterpoint to the cinnamon
Allspice	4	Depth, a warming note
Nutmeg	2	Creaminess, warm aroma
Cloves	1	A sharp accent, easy to overdo

Cinnamon and ginger form the backbone of the mix. Just the two of them give a simplified version. Without the nutmeg and cloves, though, the profile will be noticeably plainer and not necessarily recognisable as a full pumpkin spice. Add the cloves carefully. They’re very intense and can easily take over the whole drink.

Make your own pumpkin spice mix in two minutes

You don’t need to buy it. The batch below makes just under 4 teaspoons of finished mix, enough for a dozen or so drinks. This is our ratio, not an official standard.

• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves

You’ll need about 1/4 teaspoon of finished mix per drink. Roughly half of that goes into the coffee with the syrup, and the rest goes on the whipped cream. So one batch makes a dozen or so drinks.

Mix the spices and tip them into a small jar. Store it somewhere dark, away from the hob. Ground spices lose their aroma fast, so make small batches and use them up within a few months.

If you have whole nutmeg, grate it fresh right before using it. The difference between freshly grated nutmeg and the ready-ground kind is obvious. It’s probably the single most worthwhile change on this list.

Pumpkin syrup or real pumpkin

This is the one decision you genuinely need to make. Both approaches work, but they give you a different drink and take a different amount of effort.

	Pumpkin syrup	Pumpkin purée
Prep time	None	About an hour, if you’re roasting the pumpkin
Consistency	Very high	Depends on the pumpkin and the batch
Sweetness	In the syrup, dosed by the spoon	Needs sweetening separately
Texture	Clean, the drink stays clear	Thicker, slightly cloudy
Pumpkin flavour	Subtle, carried by the spices	More pronounced, vegetal
When to choose it	Every day, and in a café	When you have time and want to make it from scratch

In our café we use syrup, since consistency matters when things get busy. The same spoonful of syrup gives you the same drink every time. At home, especially at the weekend, the roasted pumpkin version has its own charm and gives a more interesting result.

If you’re going with syrup, check what’s actually in it. A good one contains pumpkin and spices, not just flavouring. We use Mount Caramel pumpkin syrup. It comes in a 200 ml bottle to try, and a litre bottle for regular use.

What you’ll need

• Coffee: a double espresso, we use an 18 g dose to about 36 g of espresso, a 1:2 ratio. That’s a common starting point, not a rule, you’ll also see recipes at 14 g to 28 g. A strong moka pot brew works too.
• Milk: 200-250 ml. Full-fat dairy at 3.2 percent, or a barista-style oat drink.
• Pumpkin syrup: 15-20 ml, roughly a tablespoon.
• Pumpkin spice mix: a pinch for the milk, a pinch for the top.
• Whipped cream: optional, for decoration.
• A tall glass, around 350 ml.

A kitchen scale and thermometer aren’t essential. They do help a lot, though, if you want to make the same drink again tomorrow.

Pumpkin spice latte, step by step

1. Pour 15-20 ml of pumpkin syrup into the bottom of the glass and add a pinch of the spice mix.
2. Pull a double espresso straight onto the syrup. Stir to dissolve the syrup while the coffee’s still hot.
3. Steam 200-250 ml of milk. Introduce air at the start, before the milk passes about 38°C, then just keep the whirlpool spinning. Finish at 60-65°C.
4. Pour the milk into the glass in one steady motion, stirring the drink with the stream.
5. Top with whipped cream and a pinch of the spice mix. Sprinkle it onto the cream, not into the milk, since ground spices don’t dissolve and will just sink to the bottom.

The order makes this easier. Syrup poured under the coffee mixes with the hot espresso and spreads evenly through the drink. It’s not compulsory. Ready-made syrup is a sugar solution, so you can add it later too and just stir it in well. Pour it into cold milk at the end without stirring, though, and it’ll sit at the bottom, making the last sip far too sweet.

Steaming milk. Aerate at the start, then whirlpool, and finish at 60-65°C.

The real pumpkin version

If you want to make everything from scratch, you’ll need a purée. Pumpkins with dense, less watery flesh work well, Hokkaido or butternut squash, for example. They’re not your only choice, but they’re easy to find and give a predictable result.

1. Cut the pumpkin open, scoop out the seeds, and cut it into chunks.
2. Roast at 180°C for 40-50 minutes. Timing depends on the variety, the size of the pieces and your oven, so go by softness, not the clock: a fork should go in without resistance.
3. Scoop the flesh away from the skin and blend until smooth. If the purée is watery, cook it off for a moment in a pan.
4. For one drink, take 1-2 tablespoons of purée, add 1 teaspoon of sugar or honey and a pinch of the spice mix.
5. Stir the purée smooth with the hot espresso first, then add the milk.

This step helps get a smooth texture. It’s not essential. You can also break up lumps with a whisk, a blender, or by mixing the purée thoroughly with hot milk. What matters is that the purée meets something hot before it goes into the whole drink.

You can keep the purée in the fridge for 3-4 days, and much longer in the freezer. The easiest way is to freeze it in an ice cube tray and pull out one cube per drink.

Pumpkin spice latte without an espresso machine

You don’t need a machine. You just need coffee strong enough, since the drink carries a lot of milk and sugar.

• Moka pot: one of the most concentrated brews you can make at home, though still noticeably weaker than espresso. One serving from a three-cup moka pot is enough for one large drink.
• French press: use a strong recipe, around 15 g of coffee to 150 ml of water, that’s 100 g per litre against the usual 60-75 g. Keep the brew time normal, 3.5-4 minutes.
• AeroPress: make a concentrate, 18 g of coffee to 80 ml of water. It won’t be espresso, but it’ll be strong enough to cut through the milk.

You can steam milk without a machine in three ways: a handheld frother, a jar with a lid, or the plunger from a French press, pumping hot milk for ten to fifteen seconds. With the jar method, the order matters for safety. Shake the cold milk for 30 seconds first. Then take off the metal lid, and only then put the jar in the microwave. Never shake a sealed jar of hot milk. None of these methods gives you microfoam like a steam wand would, but they’re enough for a drink topped with whipped cream.

Iced pumpkin spice latte

The cold version is simpler, since it doesn’t need steamed milk. There’s one catch, though: the ice dilutes the drink, so the base needs to be stronger.

1. Dissolve 15-20 ml of syrup and a pinch of the spice mix in a hot double espresso.
2. Cool it down, ideally with a short stint in the freezer. You can also pour the hot coffee straight over a measured amount of ice and treat the melted portion as part of the recipe, the way you would with flash brew. In that case, measure out extra ice.
3. Fill a tall glass with ice and pour in 150 ml of cold milk.
4. Add the cooled coffee and syrup, poured over a spoon or down the side of the glass, so the drink layers nicely.

If you want to do this properly, freeze coffee in an ice cube tray and use coffee cubes instead of water ones. That way the drink doesn’t get watered down. It’s not entirely neutral, though. As the cubes melt, they shift the coffee-to-milk ratio, so the drink gets stronger over time.

How many calories and how much caffeine

This is the biggest advantage of the homemade version, and it’s worth knowing the numbers.

Calories and sugar. A tall pumpkin spice latte, 12 fluid ounces, about 355 ml, made at an American Starbucks with 2 percent milk and whipped cream, comes to around 300 kcal and 39 g of sugar. That’s around eight teaspoons. In the largest size, the sugar can reach as much as 64 g. The whipped cream alone contributes roughly 60 kcal and about 6 g of fat, over half the fat in the whole drink. Figures vary between markets and change with every modification to the order. Treat them as a reference point, not a fixed number.

At home, you’re in control. Use one spoon of syrup instead of two, and milk instead of whipped cream. The same size glass drops to under half those figures, and the flavour holds up.

Caffeine. A pumpkin spice latte is a milk drink, not a strong coffee. The tall size normally has one shot of espresso, around 75 mg of caffeine. A filter coffee of the same volume usually has noticeably more. If you use a double espresso at home, you’ll get proportionally more caffeine, since you’re using twice the coffee.

Keep that in mind before you order a second one. This drink won’t wake you up. It’s a dessert with coffee in it.

Which coffee for pumpkin spice

In this drink, the coffee is competing with milk, sugar and five spices all at once. Milk and sugar mute subtle notes, so a delicate, floral Ethiopian coffee isn’t a great choice here. That doesn’t mean it disappears without a trace. You’ll just be paying for nuances you won’t actually taste in this glass.

Choose a coffee with a medium to darker roast profile, with notes of caramel, nuts, chocolate and warming spice. Beans like that work with the cinnamon and ginger instead of competing with them. Don’t overdo the dark roast, though. Very dark profiles bring their own bitterness, which turns heavy when combined with the spices.

From our own range, Jeremii Blend works best, with clear caramel and nutty notes. Choose Strong Storm if you prefer a stronger, more savoury base. We roast the coffee from our roastery twice a week.

If you want to understand why milk changes how coffee comes across so much, read our post on the differences between caffè latte and latte macchiato.

Five mistakes that ruin a pumpkin spice latte

1. Too many cloves. The most intense spice in the mix, and the easiest one to let take over the drink. An eighth of a teaspoon for the whole batch of mix is enough.
2. Syrup added at the end. It won’t dissolve in cold milk and will sit at the bottom.
3. Overheated milk. There’s no hard line, but the further past 70°C you go, the worse it gets: perceived sweetness drops and you start getting a boiled-milk taste. Then you need even more sugar to compensate.
4. Coffee that’s too weak. A single espresso gets lost under the milk and syrup. Use a double, or a strong moka pot brew.
5. Spice tipped into the milk and left to fend for itself. Ground spices don’t dissolve in milk or coffee: they form a suspension and sink. You’ve got three options. Whisk it into hot coffee, steep it in the milk and strain it out, or just use it as a topping on the whipped cream.