BAD IDEA OF THE WEEK: Changing a perfectly good formula

From its commitment to the Italian coffeehouse tradition to its “Race Together” campaign, Starbucks has often tried to keep it real. And after an influential food blogger took action, one of the company’s heretofore ersatz offerings — Pumpkin Spice Latte, a.k.a. “PSL,” established in 2003 — will include actual pumpkin. “After hearing from customers and partners about ingredients, we took another look at this beverage and why we created it so many years ago,” Peter Dukes — Starbucks’s “Director of Espresso and Brewed Coffee Americas” — wrote in a blog post entitled “Big News for the Beloved Pumpkin Spice Latte.” “It was simple — espresso, perfectly steamed milk, warm fall spices with delicious flavor of pumpkin pie that reminds you of the cool, crisp days of autumn. So, with that great taste you know and love, the PSL returns this fall, and this time it will be made with real pumpkin and without caramel coloring.” Though Starbucks did not credit her with motivating the change, the PSL’s real pumpkin came after Vani Hari, a food blogger known as the “Food Babe,” targeted the drink in a post last year. Hari’s list of alleged problems with the PSL was long. Among her complaints: She took issue with the drink’s caramel coloring, an alleged carcinogen; objected to its high sugar content; decried Starbucks’s use of “Monsanto Milk,” or milk “from cows that are fed genetically modified feed all day long”; and she pointed out that it had no pumpkin. The PSL hasn't been available in New Zealand yet, but the new formula better not suck.