Maple moment: could it overtake pumpkin spice?

Even Martha Stewart thinks that pumpkin spice lattes are passé.

The domestic doyenne was recently asked on “Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen” if she thought pumpkin spice was “delicious or for basic bitches only.” She responded: “The latter.” If you’ve lost Martha, you’ve lost the nation.

There have been other signs of a pumpkin spice slowdown: market research firms Nielsen and 1010data have found that pumpkin spice product sales aren’t growing as much as they used to, even though there are more pumpkin spice products available than ever before. The oversaturation of the flavour is contributing to a collective feeling that pumpkin spice just isn’t as special as it used to be.

But Starbucks will not be stymied in its attempt to capture all of your sweater weather dollars. On Thursday, the coffee shop introduced a new seasonal drink: the maple pecan latte.

Maple is having a moment. Earlier this month, Market Watch predicted that it could usurp pumpkin spice to become the predominant flavour of fall. Maple is “up about 85 per cent in nonalcoholic beverages between the second quarter of 2016 and the second quarter of 2017, according to the Technomic MenuMonitor, and up 14.6 per cent in alcoholic beverages for that period,” wrote Tonya Garcia.

We’re seeing more maple foods and beverages in stores, too. Maple water began trending last year as coconut water drinkers looked for variety (birch water is on the rise, too). Maple has found a toehold as a yogurt flavour, and it’s been incorporated into bourbons. Maple bacon has become a mainstay flavour at most new-wave doughnut shops.

There’s a certain disconnect to maple’s new status as an autumnal beverage, because maple syrup is harvested in the spring — usually between March and April. Still, it makes sense, because we gravitate toward heavier flavours and foods when it begins to get cold.

But is maple the antidote to our pumpkin spice madness? That depends on how many other types of products adopt the flavour — and whether it triggers a backlash.

has a head start in breakfast items like oatmeal and, obviously, waffles. But Food Dive points out that it’s beginning to get the pumpkin spice treatment, showing up in items such as cheese, vodka and protein bars. Further search revealed maple dog treats and candles and perfume, for anyone who would like their pet’s breath, their home and their body to smell like pancakes. It doesn’t work quite as well on a T-shirt as pumpkin spice does, mostly because it only rhymes with the word “staple.”

In a few years, we’ll probably roll our eyes at the thought of another season of maple pecan lattes. For now, though, we welcome any threat to the stranglehold that pumpkin spice has staked on our fall foods. Long live the MPL, until it, too, becomes the choice beverage of the basics.