How many calories are in a Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Latte?
I break down exactly how many calories are in a Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Latte across Short, Tall, Grande, and Venti, and share the lower-calorie custom order.
Quick Answer
A standard Grande (16 oz) hot Pumpkin Spice Latte with 2% milk and whipped cream is 390 calories, 14 g fat, and 50 g sugar. A Tall lands around 300 calories and a Venti pushes past 470.
The pumpkin sauce and whipped cream drive most of that load, not the espresso.
What actually goes into a standard PSL
The default recipe I get in the store is built from four things: 2% reduced-fat milk as the dairy base, one or two shots of signature dark roast espresso, four pumps of the proprietary pumpkin spice sauce, and a dollop of vanilla-sweetened whipped cream dusted with pumpkin pie spice.
None of those ingredients are calorie-neutral except the espresso itself. The sauce and the whip are the two levers that push the count up.
Calorie counts by size
Here is how the hot and iced versions scale across the cup lineup. All figures assume 2% milk and whipped cream.
| Size | Volume | Hot PSL | Iced PSL | Sugar (hot) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Short | 8 oz | 210 cal | n/a | 27 g |
| Tall | 12 oz | 300 cal | 280 cal | 38 g |
| Grande | 16 oz | 390 cal | 370 cal | 50 g |
| Venti | 20/24 oz | 470 cal | 450 cal | 64 g |
Why the pumpkin sauce is the real culprit
Clear syrups like vanilla or hazelnut are around 20 calories per pump. The pumpkin spice sauce is a different animal. It is a thick reduction made with condensed skim milk, sugar, and real pumpkin puree, so a single pump lands close to 30 to 35 calories and 7 to 8 grams of sugar.
Four pumps in a Grande already put roughly 130 calories and 30 grams of sugar into the cup before the milk or the whip even show up.
The whipped cream tax
The standard vanilla-sweetened whipped cream on top adds about 110 calories and 11 grams of fat in a single dollop. Skipping it is the fastest cut I can make to the drink.
The lower-calorie custom order I actually use
When I want the pumpkin flavor without the sugar crash, I order it this way through the app:
- Grande hot Pumpkin Spice Latte
- Swap 2% milk for almondmilk
- Drop pumps of pumpkin sauce from 4 to 2
- No whipped cream
That configuration lands somewhere around 170 to 190 calories with roughly 25 grams of sugar, and it still tastes like a PSL. You lose some of the pie-spice intensity, so I ask for an extra dusting of pumpkin spice topping on the foam to bring it back.
How the PSL compares to other seasonal drinks
People assume the PSL is the worst offender on the menu. It is not. A Grande Salted Caramel Mocha with whip clears 470 calories, and a Grande Peppermint White Chocolate Mocha with whip crosses 550. The PSL sits solidly in the middle of the fall lineup.
Sugar in perspective
50 grams of sugar in a Grande PSL works out to about 12 teaspoons. That is more than a standard 12 oz can of soda. If you drink one every morning through pumpkin season, that is an easy 350 grams of sugar per week from one beverage alone.
Frequently asked follow-ups
Is the iced version lower calorie? Slightly. A Grande iced PSL is about 370 calories versus 390 for hot, because ice displaces some of the milk volume.
Does the pumpkin cream cold brew count? No. That is a different drink built on cold brew with a pumpkin cream cold foam. A Grande lands around 250 calories, so it is a solid lower-calorie alternative to the traditional latte.
Can I ask for real pumpkin puree? Baristas do not have plain pumpkin puree behind the bar. The sauce is the only pumpkin ingredient in the recipe.
Bottom line
A standard Grande Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Latte is a 390-calorie, 50-gram-sugar drink. The pumpkin sauce and whip do most of the damage, and both can be modified. Trim the pumps, swap the milk, and skip the whip, and you can bring a Grande under 200 calories without giving up the flavor.
More on how many calories Starbucks PSL adds to your day
When people ask how many calories Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Latte drinks add to a daily routine, the honest answer is that a Grande PSL every weekday morning stacks up to nearly 2,000 calories per week from a single beverage before food. Over a full 10-week pumpkin season, that is 20,000 calories and 2.5 kg of sugar poured through one drink slot.
If you run a fasting protocol like 16:8, the PSL breaks a fast decisively. Between the pumpkin sauce, milk, and whip, a Grande delivers about 50 g of carbohydrate, more than enough to trigger a full insulin release and end the fasted state.
Batch buying tips
If you love the PSL and want to protect your budget and calorie load together, order a Tall instead of a Grande, drop the pumps from 3 to 2, and skip the whip. That lands the drink at roughly 180 calories with 25 g of sugar for under $5 in most markets, giving you an authentic autumn coffee without the routine 400-calorie hit.
PSL for kids
The PSL is not caffeine-heavy per shot (75 mg per Grande), but the sugar load makes it a poor daily choice for children. A single Grande contains more sugar than a candy bar, and pediatric guidance from the American Heart Association caps added sugar at 25 g/day for kids aged 2 to 18. Ask for a decaf Short with 1 pump and no whip if you want a scaled-down family version at around 100 calories.