Every fall, Starbucks releases its famous pumpkin spice latte. However, a couple on TikTok shared how to make the popular seasonal drink at home with ingredients they purchased from Target and Amazon.
The video featured TikTok user Buck Wise (@buckwise) who typically posts marketing and sales tips. In this clip, he and his partner walk viewers through making pumpkin spice latte with only three ingredients.
“Paying $6 a cup for a pumpkin spice latte or you can just get these ingredients and I’ll show you how to do it for under $1 a cup,” the TikToker says in the clip. He shows a bottle of pure pumpkin pie spice extract, one can of canned pumpkin, and two cans of sweetened condensed milk.
“I’ve heard that the 12-ounce is $8 for pumpkin spice latte this year,” Wise tells his wife, who was assisting him in making the concoction.
Then, his wife shares some of the prices from each ingredient, including pumpkin puree which they say was priced at $1.40 from Target, and pure pumpkin pie spice extract for $7 off Amazon. According to the content creator, the ingredients come out to be “82 cents per pumpkin spice latte if you make it at home.” All of the ingredients were supposed to make a “big jar” of it. A couple of key items he revealed were a frother which “adds a nice texture” and cinnamon.
Afterward, they dive into the process of how to make the latte. Wise first opens a can of condensed milk and adds it to a saucepan on the stove. His wife then adds a half cup of sugar to it and stirs it while it simmers into a syrupy texture. They make the espresso next, and then the content creator pours the syrup into a jar and dumps the espresso into cups filled with ice.
Immediately, they add the frothed almond milk they used as their creamer. Finally, they add a couple of dabs the syrup and cinnamon. Once their drinks are completed, they clink their glasses and take a sip.
“10 out of 10. Must get it,” he concluded the video.
@buckwise 86¢ per cup when you make @Starbucks #pumpkinspicelatte at home 🍂☕️ #psl ♬ original sound – Buck Wise
The Daily Dot reached out to Wise via Instagram direct message and TikTok comment. The video accumulated over 6,000 views within 24 hours, where viewers shared their thoughts.
“Mmmmmm….looks delicious!” one viewer wrote.
“I’ll pass,” a second commented.
“Add powdered chai tea, it’s soo–o good!!!” a third stated.
Update 6:02pm CT, Aug. 30: Wise told the Daily Dot he used to work on Starbucks’ marketing team. “We did a lot of target research on who is the core drinker of the pumpkin spice latte,” he shared via Instagram direct message.
“People like pumpkin spice lattes because it associated them with cozy and fall and warm and cute,” he stated. “It’s more of an attribute of the persona more than anything.”
He admitted the homemade drink he and his wife made doesn’t taste exactly like the original drink you can get at Starbucks “because the pumpkin spice extract adds more of a ‘kick.’ Theirs is more of a dessert pumpkin pie.”