But…there are a couple of kickers.

First of all, who can afford a daily diet of $5 coffees? If you count Sept. 1 through Nov. 30 as "fall" and you consume a pumpkin spice latte every day, that's 91 days. At $5 a pop, if you only have one per day, that is a whopping $455 in pumpkin spice beverages.

Here's what you're sipping.
If you read about the ingredients in the be-all, end-all pumpkin spice latte, the one from Starbucks, you'll find a lot of unnecessary stuff. Here is the ingredients list, right from horse's mouth.

MILK, PUMPKIN SPICE SAUCE [SUGAR, CONDENSED SKIM MILK, PUMPKIN PUREE, CONTAINS 2% OR LESS OF FRUIT AND VEGETABLE JUICE FOR COLOR, NATURAL FLAVORS, ANNATTO, SALT, POTASSIUM SORBATE], BREWED ESPRESSO, WHIPPED CREAM [CREAM (CREAM, MONO AND DIGLYCERIDES, CARAGEENAN), VANILLA SYRUP (SUGAR, WATER, NATURAL FLAVORS, POTASSIUM SORBATE, CITRIC ACID)], PUMPKIN SPICE TOPPING [CINNAMON, GINGER, NUTMEG, CLOVES]

Is it the worst drink you can buy? Well, no. There are far worse out there. But it does have a lot of things you don't necessarily need to get your seasonal sparkle.

You can do better. Much, much better. Plus, you can control the ingredients to account for personal preferences, allergies, and intolerances.

Make your own Pumpkin Spice Creamer

With a DIY Pumpkin Spice Creamer, you can have your own fancy coffee beverage at a fraction of the price, any time you want. And it's WAY better for you, too. Here's what you need.

Ingredients:

2 cups of your favorite kind of unsweetened milk (cow's milk, half-and-half, goat's milk, almond milk, cashew milk, coconut milk, or reconstituted dry milk if you are making this from stockpile ingredients…whatever you prefer)

1/4 cup of brown sugar (you can also use honey, sweetener, or this low-carb, organic sweetener we discovered that we really like, Agave 5)

3 tbsp of  pumpkin puree (There are alternatives. You can use pumpkin powder, or if you like to dehydrate, you can make your own pumpkin powder to use. The conversion is 1/4 tbsp of powder to 1 tbsp of puree.)

2 tsp of pumpkin pie spice

1 tsp of cinnamon

1 teaspoon vanilla extract