Exploring the shift from Pumpkin Spice to Matcha, Banana Bread, and emerging autumnal flavours.
While the search volume data below reflects broader US trends, the UK coffee market closely mirrors these shifts. The UK pumpkin spice product market is expanding, driven partly by cultural imports and global coffee chains, with an expected growth rate of 8.1%.
However, matcha is rapidly taking market share from traditional autumn flavours. In August 2026, Starbucks expanded its UK ready-to-drink portfolio with two permanent matcha lattes, directly positioning them alongside a limited-edition Pumpkin Spice Frappuccino. Other high street brands are also leaning into this "matcha momentum," with Dunkin' UK launching a Matcha Pistachio Latte for the autumn season.
People are looking for new twists on their everyday drinks, leaning into new routines over standard seasonal habits. According to Google Trends, search interest shows growing curiosity around different options and unexpected fruit flavours.
Searches for "when do pumpkin spice lattes come out" usually spike every August, and over the past month, reports show a +510% increase.
However, compared to chai and matcha, pumpkin spice lattes lead searches in just 3 US states this week, a sharp drop from 32 states at this point in 2025 and 48 states in 2024.
Matcha lattes currently lead search interest in 29 US states over chai latte and pumpkin spice latte.
Its national search interest is +260% higher than pumpkin spice latte this month.
Saw smaller search spikes each September for the past three years, but is currently at its all-time high.
Search interest is up +190% so far in August.
People also search for apple cider every autumn, with search interest reaching its highest level on record in October last year. Top trending related searches in October 2025 included "hot apple cider cocktail" and "apple cider hot toddy".
Note: Search interest in cider typically spikes every October.