The Spiciest Debate in Coffee

A ritual as old as time, the morning drink is humanity’s quiet invocation, a signal that the day has begun. Every culture has its own version of this awakening potion: chai in India, matcha in Japan, maté in Argentina, coffee almost everywhere. Each cup promises energy, focus, renewal, and carries within it something deeper: a link between productivity, community and belief.

In a brand-driven world, we’re spoiled for choice. From global chains to corner cafés, from the purposeful to the performative, there’s a roast or ritual for every taste. Our choice of where and what we drink has become an act of self-definition, as personal as our wardrobe, as revealing as our playlist. Behind the caffeine, we’re really choosing stories: what ideas are we being sold, and what meaning are we trying to buy back?

Nowhere is that story more polarising than in the Pumpkin Spice Latte.Mocked as a crime against beans and adored as an autumnal hug, the PSL has become both meme and marker, a cultural shorthand for comfort, nostalgia, and the start of the season. It’s easy to dismiss it as marketing theatre, but that’s precisely what makes it interesting. Because its commercial success is undeniable, with a 20% increase in sales at launch, it is one of Starbucks’ most successful drinks, and beneath the whipped cream and cinnamon dust lies a truth about our need for ritual.

Seasonality gives consumption meaning and wielding anticipation thoughtfully can be one of the most effective tools for building brand equity and commercial success. That sense of occasion strengthens loyalty and turns habit into attachment. When every brand is accessible at every moment, those that control when we can have something often gain the strongest hold on why we want it.

You can see it in the craft of those who do it well. Brands like Redemption Coffee and Allpress understand that timing isn’t just logistics, it’s emotion. From Redemption’s small-batch drops that celebrate harvest cycles to Allpress’ considered approach to seasonality and sourcing, both turn availability into narrative, reminding us that good coffee, like good storytelling, depends on rhythm.

Global brands, in particular, have an opportunity here. Instead of flattening experience into sameness, they can become interpreters of place and time. By embracing restriction and availability—the ebb and flow of the seasons, the pauses between offerings—they can create global rituals that still feel local, rooted, and alive. Imagine if every latitude had its own seasonal expression, not dictated by logistics, but by light, temperature, harvest.

In a world of constant access, the rare becomes sacred. The lesson from nature is simple: absence creates value, and rhythm creates meaning. The real challenge for brands is mastering the balance, using availability, desirability, and meaning as levers to create anticipation, not saturation.