The PSL Is Back At Starbucks Today

Update: They're back! Today, Starbucks locations nationwide will be offering Pumpkin Spice Lattes once again.

Since the PSL is returning earlier than usual, and it's still pretty hot out, customers can order the iconic fall beverage iced or as a Frappuccino. You can even add Pumpkin sauce to cold brew if you think it best to stick with your go-to summer drink but still want to get in on the festive celebration.

Update, August 21, 2018: It looks like all the clues we uncovered were pointing in the right direction. This morning, Starbucks officially confirmed that the Pumpkin Spice Latte will return to stores nationwide on August 28. That means fans only have to wait one more week for the return of the fall favorite.

Ready or not, here it comes. Pumpkin Spice Latte season is quickly approaching. It may come as a shock to some since we're not even halfway through August, but in recent days, hints have been dropping left and right that the PSL's 2018 release is just around the corner. Last year, Starbucks began selling the iconic autumn drink on September 5, well before fall officially started. This year, however, we have a few reasons to believe it's coming back even sooner. Like, this month. Here's everything we know so far.

Early yesterday, the Pumpkin Spice Latte's official Twitter account — yes, the PSL has a Twitter account. Don't act like you don't follow it — tweeted for the first time since October 2017. The PSL's first tweet of 2017 was posted 13 days before the drink's official re-release. In 2016, the PSL tweeted for the first time that year just 10 days before its return. With that in mind, we can assume the PSL will make its 2018 debut in the next couple weeks.

In its tweet from yesterday, the PSL revealed the existence of an exclusive Facebook group called the Leaf Rackers Society, which brings us to our next piece of information.

The Starbucks-created Leaf Rakers Society Facebook page, which we did join despite having mixed feeling about summer coming to an end, is meant to be "a safe place" for those who wish to celebrate fall all year long. According to its official description, the group's purpose is to serve as "a forum where we constructively work together with Mother Nature to help Autumn arrive earlier in the calendar year." That seems like a hint that Starbucks' most quintessential fall menu item might come earlier than usual, especially if the members of this group put in the work.

Today, Starbucks announced its lineup of Pumpkin Spice products that will be hitting grocery stores nationwide this year. Included in the collection are two brand new products, Pumpkin Spice Cookie Straws and Pumpkin Spice Flavored Ground Coffee K-Cup Pods, as well as five returning items, Ready-to-Drink Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Lattes, Pumpkin Spice Flavored Ground Coffee, Pumpkin Spice Caffe Latte K-Cup Pods, Iced Espresso Classics Pumpkin Spice, and Starbucks VIA Instant Pumpkin Spice Latte. In a recent email about this year's Pumpkin Spice product line, a Starbucks representative told Refinery29, "While waiting for that first sip [of the handcrafted Pumpkin Spice Latte] to mark the official start of Fall, customers can enjoy at-home and on-the-go versions of their favorite seasonal flavor starting next week!" That leads us to believe that the PSL won't be available at Starbucks until after the grocery line is released next week.

Two weeks ago, an admin on the /r/Starbucks subreddit posted a reminder about the company's policy on sharing internal recourses. The note read, "Just a quick reminder that it is strictly forbidden to post anything that has not been announced yet. That includes names, recipes, etc. This seems to be hard to grasp for some users in this subreddit." The admin's words were true. This subreddit has a history of breaking Starbucks news early, especially when it comes to new beverages. Because of this, reminder posts like this one are often shared shortly before big news is announced. In this case, the notice could have been prompted because of the PSL's impending return. One user's mention of the Pumpkin Spice Latte in the comments section of this post supports our suspicions.

Lastly and most revealingly, Business Insider reported today that it had acquired access to internal documents — hopefully not through Reddit — that revealed the PSL's 2018 release date. According to the document Business Insider found, the Pumpkin Spice Latte will be available at Starbucks — drumroll, please — August 28. That is the Tuesday before Labor Day, and if the information is correct, it will be one of the earliest releases in the PSL's 15-year history. Based on all the other clues, we believe it.