8 L.A. coffee shops putting a local, artisanal spin on the pumpkin spice latte

Call it basic, or call it one of the most brilliant marketing ploys the coffee world has ever seen. Heralding fall with the same gusto as an afternoon of apple picking — which does indeed exist within driving distance of L.A. — the pumpkin spice latte is back, featuring espresso with nutmeg, ginger, cinnamon and other warming spices often combined in pumpkin pie. Given that the spice blend the latte is based upon is more than two centuries old — and this year, the Starbucks-popularized drink that garnered a pumpkin-rabid fandom turned 20 — it appears the pumpkin spice latte is here to stay.

The Starbucks icon reprised its reign Aug. 24 — nearly a week earlier than last year’s return — but independent L.A. coffee shops are currently turning out some of their own, more delicious takes. From Chinatown to Culver City, mom-and-pop cafes are building on the PSL — some even juicing fresh pumpkins, simmering small batches of kabocha squash or hand-grinding spices with a mortar and pestle.

To many, the drink has long signaled the start of autumn. Darren La Borie of Eagle Rock and Silver Lake coffee shops Muddy Paw is in his eighth or ninth year of offering a pumpkin spice latte made from real pumpkin, not store-bought pumpkin-flavored syrup. “If you ask me my biggest problem with the whole pumpkin spice craze, it’s that people say, ‘Oh, we can put it in a syrup,’” he said. “I’m like, ‘That’s just not the same.’ There’s so much to it.”

Others have only just recently started to explore PSL territory.

“In the beginning I kind of turned my nose up at stuff like that,” said Clark Street founder Zack Hall, now in his second year of pumpkin spice offerings. “It took me a while to come around, but now it’s just fun. The staff making them has fun, the customers coming in have fun with it.”

For pumpkin-themed amusement made by independent coffee shops (and one Latin supermarket), here are eight spots to find local, small-batch variations on the PSL in L.A. and beyond.