Not too early for latte

Enjoy the fall flavor, even if haters call you basic

It’s baaack. We’re talking of the famous — or, if you’re a “hater,” the infamous — PSL, also known as the pumpkin spice latte.

Starbucks shook America, Canada and Twitter with its 15th annual release of the seasonal beverage. Early. As in early, even for Starbucks. The PSL started showing up on menus Aug. 28, a week or so ahead of its usual appearance.

The pumpkin-flavored coffee, seasoned with the warm spices of cinnamon, ginger, cloves and nutmeg, is Starbucks’ most popular seasonal drink. It also may be its most divisive, evidenced by the Twitter storm that followed the appearance of the sweet and somewhat savory drink on menus. With its own Twitter account, @TheRealPSL has about 110,000 followers.

If you’re into social media, you may know that favoring the PSL can instantly convert you to “basic”; translation: conformist of the most uncool variety. In fact, a quick check of “Urban Dictionary” actually defines “basic” using an example of a female who wants to do nothing but “drink pumpkin spice lattes and play Candy Crush.”

It’s true that Halloween is weeks away and fall doesn’t officially begin until Saturday, but what’s wrong with pumpkin and spice and everything nice? Is it any different than Reese’s peanut butter pumpkins in local grocery stores in September or Christmas decorations in October?

It may feel like the pages of the calendar are turning too fast. While you’re flipping them, you can have a sip of a latte that tastes like fall, even if frost on the pumpkin is weeks away.