Pumpkin spice latte season: UK’s favourite coffee, syrup and coffee shop revealed

Has the mighty but sugar-laden ‘PSL’ risen through the ranks to become the UK’s favourite cup of coffee?
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Starbucks, Costa & more analysed">Pumpkin spice latte season is in full swing, with coffee lovers descending on Starbucks and Greggs reveals when the Pumpkin Spice Latte will go on sale and there’s not long to wait">Greggs to get their hands on the sweet autumnal treat.

The ‘PSL’ has become synonymous with Halloween and is known to flood Instagram at this time of year, nestled alongside snaps of scarves and dead leaves as summer draws to a close.

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The sugar-laden drink is made up of traditional autumn spices, espresso and steamed milk, and is often topped with pumpkin pie spice and whipped cream.

It’s proven enduringly popular, with 31.5 million sold every year, but has it propelled through the ranks to become the nation’s favourite ‘cup of Joe?’

According to a study by Britsuperstore, which analysed over 26.5 million UK search results to determine the nation’s favourite coffee, the PSL has a way to go and is perhaps best confined to the autumn months.

Based on the total number of searches from the past 12 months, the study shows that Vanilla is by far the nation’s favourite syrup to add to their coffee, receiving over 41,000 searches in the past year and overtaking Pumpkin Spice by over 14,000 searches.

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When it comes to the most popular coffee type, bleary-eyed Brits favour a stronger coffee to fuel their day, with espresso reigning supreme and the latte lagging behind.

The study also analysed the most popular brand of coffee and UK based coffee chains over the past 12 months.

The results show that the most popular coffee brand is Lavazza with over 200,000 searches.

Meanwhile Costa Coffee, despite swapping the pumpkin spice latte for a ‘maple hazel’ creation, is the most popular coffee chain in the UK with over 5.2 million searches.

Top 10 most popular types of coffee revealed (based on number of searches)

  • Espresso = 395,261
  • Macchiato = 375,377
  • Cappuccino = 370,996
  • Flat white = 370,742
  • Mocha = 303,232
  • Cortado = 303,100
  • Latte = 268,35
  • Iced coffee = 261,128
  • Americano = 158,757
  • Frappe = 140,679

UK’s favourite coffee flavours revealed (based on number of searches)

  • Vanilla syrup = 41,741
  • Caramel syrup = 39,651
  • Pumpkin spice syrup = 27,118
  • Chocolate syrup = 19,621
  • Gingerbread = 14,356

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