8 Pumpkin Spice Coffee Creamers, Ranked Worst To Best

Fall is the best time of year. The leaves make their long descent from the trees, the bugs have ceased their incessant buzzing, and, best of all, pumpkin everything is back. I know that pumpkin is seen as the it-girl of fall flavors (sorry, apple), but could we really expect anything less from this seasonal diva? The balance of subtle squashy flavor, mixed with warming spices that make you feel like you're being draped with a fluffy blanket on a relaxed Sunday morning is impeccable. So impeccable that almost every major coffee creamer brand has tried to put its own spin on the flavor and capture the attention of pumpkin coffee lovers everywhere. 

I've had my fair share of bad pumpkin creamers over the years — ones that taste watery, or sickeningly sweet, or decidedly not like pumpkin — so I was excited to see what several popular coffee creamers could make of this seasonal icon. To do so, I rounded up all of the pumpkin creamers that I could find, poured 2 tablespoons of each creamer into an 8-ounce cup of home-brewed cold brew (tasted cold, straight from the fridge sans ice), and sipped. After I had tasted all the brands, I ranked them from worst to best, based on the balance of sweetness, use of spices and pumpkin flavor, and overall enjoyability. My top pick may even replace your go-to fast food pumpkin coffee. 

Some recommendations are based on first-hand impressions of promotional materials and products provided by the manufacturer/distributor/etc.

Coffee mate is a key player in what I like to call the "industrial creamer complex." You can find it at gas stations, corner stores, and taking up a lion's share of the creamer section in your local grocery store. People arguably only buy it or add it to their coffee because it's there — not because it tastes particularly good. The same sentiment can be applied to its pumpkin spice creamer. 

Amid Coffee mate's dizzying array of flavors, which included the likes of "White Lotus"-inspired, "Xtra" strong, and status quo hazelnut and vanilla flavors, I found this pumpkin spice nestled on its respective shelf for the season. The label clearly says that you should try it in iced coffee, but I don't think it's really worth trying in any coffee, for that matter. 

When I licked the seal, I was immediately overcome by its sweetness. For the most part, the other creamers on this list dialed the sweetness back — and for that, I was grateful. This one was where all hell broke loose. It was sweet to the point that it tasted bitter. The sweetness and subsequent bitterness fledged a full-scale attack on any pumpkin or spice notes, and there wasn't any creaminess or richness to round out its sharp edges. The mouthfeel was distinctly syrupy and sugary, and I almost think I would have been better off just using a pumpkin syrup in my coffee. It was a bad creamer, through and through, and I don't think I would add it to my coffee even if it was the only option available at the gas station. 

International Delight isn't a brand that I associate with being particularly high-quality, so I wasn't surprised to see that its seasonal pumpkin spice creamer paled (quite literally) in comparison to the others I sampled. The flavor of this creamer was very weak, and while it did its job of sweetening my glass of cold brew, I can't say it was particularly memorable. The sweetness didn't really manifest beyond a general sugariness; I couldn't pull out any pumpkin notes or distinctly spicy flavors from this product. In fact, if I was blindfolded and asked what flavor this creamer was supposed to be, I'd probably just say "sweet cream." After I swirled a few sips around my mouth, I picked up a few scant cinnamon notes — definitely not enough to give itself the esteemed title of "pumpkin spice," though. 

I was toying with whether to place International Delight in last place or second-to-last place. Ultimately, I felt the mouthfeel of International Delight's product didn't come close to the creamy bliss put forth by the options ranked above it. It was less overwhelmingly sweet than Coffee mate and had slightly more depth than Starbucks. International Delight's wateriness and lack of high-quality flavor was not enough to save it from the bottom spot on this list. 

Starbucks' pumpkin spice lattes can get expensive, so it's nice that customers can get their fall fix at home with Starbucks-branded creamers ... theoretically. Since the brand has such a strong association with the iconic PSL, I really expected that Starbucks' two PSL creamers would be the front runners in this race. But, I'll call a spade a spade here: This creamer is awful — though not as sweet and unbalanced as Coffee mate. 

When I took an obligatory lick of the safety seal after shaking the container, I noticed that this creamer tasted not of pumpkin patches and cozy lattes, but of coconut. It seems like a strange flavor to make an appearance in this ranking, especially in a dairy-based creamer. The mouthfeel of this creamer, when mixed with the cold brew, was thin. It didn't do much for the coffee besides provide some cushion against its acidity and somewhat acrid flavor. Its consistency was also slightly thicker than International Delight, which is the only reason I ranked it higher. Starbucks' creamer is sweet — yet not overly so — and I guess I can be thankful for that, considering everything else fell short of my expectations. 

The pumpkin element and the spice were wholly absent from this creamer. Like the rest of the lower ranked creamers on this list, the flavor is more "generally sweet" than pumpkin-adjacent, which defeats the purpose of using it entirely. If given the choice to drink my cold brew black or with Starbucks' creamer, I would definitely opt for the former. 

I have years of experience working in marketing, so I know a well-designed product when I see one. This Chobani pumpkin spice coffee creamer is packaged in a trendy plastic bottle — dare I say it looks cute? But cute doesn't cut it; it's what's on the inside that counts. 

When I took a whiff of this creamer, I'll admit that I was impressed. The pumpkin aroma was not super artificial, nor was it overwhelmingly cloying. However, I worried about the boldness of its flavor, considering its light and fleeting aroma. I poured 1 tablespoon of creamer into the glass — which poured very richly; after all, Chobani does claim that its product is, in fact, made with "real cream." The 1 tablespoon of creamer didn't do much, and the 2 tablespoons didn't really impress me either. I did get the impression that this was a quality creamer, based on the fact that it gave me a luxuriously fresh and creamy mouthfeel that coated my taste buds and distracted from what little acidity was in the cold brew. But I couldn't really pull out any poignant pumpkin notes, nor spiced ones. 

Since this creamer's flavor is so subtle, my inclination is that it would really only work in a lightly flavored coffee beverage — or a weak iced coffee that's more milk and creamer than it is actually coffee. In a cold brew or a robust blend, this Chobani creamer wouldn't stand a chance. 

There's only one pumpkin spice creamer that I had tried prior to this ranking, and it was this Starbucks non-dairy variety. Starbucks' pumpkin spice syrup sadly contains milk, so when I was a vegan, I had to settle for this creamer instead. And the experience you get from drinking a PSL is very, very different from the experience of sipping a coffee made with this creamer — and not just because this one uses almond and oat milk instead of real dairy. 

I was surprised to see such a big difference between Starbucks dairy-based creamer and this one. When I took a lick of its safety seal, I found that the non-dairy variety had more profound spice notes rather than a flavor that was generally sweet and creamy. This difference also translated into the beverage; the non-dairy version had a texture that was decidedly less creamy and rich than the OG Starbucks (and the rest of the creamers on this list, for that matter). But since it had a better spice flavor, I had to rank it higher than Starbucks and many of the other creamer brands, which failed to deliver the quintessential, seasonal spice flavor I was looking for. 

Besides a failure to deliver on the "pumpkin" essence, my main issue with this creamer is that if you add it to a watery coffee, like an iced coffee, cold brew, or even acidic hot coffee, you'd completely lose its flavor. I suspect it would even make your coffee taste even more watery. 

I'm going to be honest; if given the choice of Starbucks' or Dunkin's pumpkin spice latte, I'm going to pick Starbucks. But when I consider that I can get pumpkin-flavored Munchkins at Dunkin', well, then all bets are off. The Munchkins are sweet and coat your molars and taste buds with a syrupy-yet-crunchy glaze, and I didn't expect that this creamer would give me anywhere near the same textural experience. I was just looking for the flavor I expected from the other creamers: pumpkin, spice, and all around coziness. 

I tasted this creamer directly after Chobani, and I can say that it was like night and day. This creamer poured far more syrupy than Chobani's offering and did not change the color as much as the former. This suggests that Dunkin' uses far more sugar and far less cream in its creamer than Chobani does in its recipe. And the taste only served to validate this claim. I got more prominent sweet notes from Dunkin's creamer, which helped to convey the pumpkin flavor and subtle (emphasis on "subtle") spice notes even more. 

However, my big issue with this creamer is that its flavor is generally sweet — not specifically pumpkin, or fall, or cozy-blankets-and-leaves-falling-from-the-trees. You could have told me it was very sweet vanilla creamer and I would have gone along with it. While the sweetness helped bring those pumpkin notes out a little more than the lower-ranked creamers, it still gave the cold brew an oddly saccharine mouthfeel, making it unpleasant to drink.

I'll admit that Good & Gather has been on the up and up for me; its coconut milk performed surprisingly well in another tasting I did, so I had high hopes for this product. I also drove about 45 minutes to find this creamer, so I was holding out hope that it was going to be worth the hassle. 

When I tasted a little of the creamer by itself on the lid, I was immediately overwhelmed by not its sugar, and not its creaminess — but by its spice. It tasted like someone had dumped a container of cinnamon extract into a container of heavy cream, gave it a shake, and slapped the label on. I couldn't really taste pumpkin at all. Instead, all of the spice notes lingered together in a mouthfeel and a flavor that was more medicinal than it was pleasant. Every time I tried to look for the pumpkin flavor, I was met with an offensive tackle from the spice. 

I will give Good & Gather some credit here for being very forward with its spice, but it completely blocked out any hope of pumpkin flavor. Granted, I feel like more and more people are associating "pumpkin" spice with general spice nowadays, so it might not be as offensive to others as it was to me. I did also rank it higher than some of the other creamers because I thought its sweetness was more thoughtfully balanced and that it still offered my cold brew a very creamy mouthfeel. You just won't see me sipping on it before 10 a.m.

I've never been a cold foam enthusiast. Despite having an espresso machine that can make cold foam, it's still not my usual go-to, especially when I could make an iced latte or plain iced coffee. But even I was smitten with this selection from International Delight. Whereas the original pumpkin pie spice creamer from the brand lacked body and a distinguished pumpkin-iness, this one was filled to the brim with it. The flavor was boldly sweet and spicy, though neither the spiciness nor the sweetness affected the prominence of the pumpkin. While the other creamers on this list were just average, this one excelled at bringing both a squashy flavor and the familiar "spice" component I was looking for. 

However, there are obvious drawbacks, and the idea of putting this in the top spot kept me up at night. It's intended to be used for cold drinks — like cold brews, iced coffees, and more — and while there's no reason you can't use it for a hot drink, you may get some looks from coffee snobs if you try to do it. Moreover, the cold foam left a strangely oily mouthfeel behind and I didn't like how it sticks in blobs to the side of the glass no matter how well you try to mix it up. While this has happened to me every time I've ordered a cold foam-topped drink at Starbucks (which is, albeit, few and far between), it may not be appealing to every coffee drinker. However, its flavor was still leaps and bounds above the others, earning it high marks. 

I'm an avid coffee drinker and enjoy various store-bought coffee creamers, so I set my standards high for this ranking of seasonal, pumpkin-inspired creamers. In order to test each of these brands, I poured 2 tablespoons of each creamer into an 8-ounce cup of home-brewed cold brew. I used the same type of coffee beans for every sample and only tasted it cold so that I wouldn't have to worry about ice diluting or disrupting the flavor or intensity of the creamer. Once I had tasted (and in some cases, re-tasted) these creamers, I ranked them from worst to best. 

Regardless of if the brand was touting a "pumpkin spice" or "pumpkin spice latte" label, it needed to bring a bold, pumpkin-y flavor with balanced notes of warming spices like cinnamon and cloves.The primary purpose of creamer is two-fold: alter the mouthfeel of the coffee and offer some sort of sweetness. Creamers that had a more decadent mouthfeel and a balanced sweetness ranked higher than those that were overwhelmingly cloying and artificial. I also ranked creamers that were versatile higher than those that could only be used for a milky latte because their flavor was too subtle.