Move over, Banana! Step back, Hershey’s PB& Chocolate Latté! Here comes what McDonald’s is hoping will be the new flavour of Fall! The burger giant has entered the sweepstakes to dethrone Pumpkin Spice from as an Autumn flavour legend!
Try it in iced coffee, hot or iced lattés, or a blended frappé. The lattes are available in any size… Available now, for a limited time – though McD’s won’t say how limited…
A worthy contender…
I’ll say, right off the bat, that Caramel Apple Pie is a worthy contender in the race to unseat Pumpkin Spice from its decades-old place on the throne.
It’s described in exaulting terms: “Fall forecast? Sip on a crisp, fall McCafé Caramel Apple Pie Iced Coffee for a limited time. Apple pie crumble topping meets caramel apple pie flavored syrup plus salted caramel flavored whipped topping and served over ice.”
Yes, intentionally or not, the McD’s offering is leveraging the ‘pie’ connection to the old ‘standard’ (but worn-out) favourite. But that may backfire, if folks subconsciously associate Caramel Apple Pie with Pumpkin Spice, which was originally a classic flavour blend for pumpkin pie.
On the other hand, Hershey’s is leveraging the fall connection of its iconic Peanut Butter Cups to Hallowe’en, suggesting you whiz-up a Hershey’s pumpkin in the blender and stir that into your coffee.
And the Banana boosters are calling their entry a complete break from the ‘old’, and a high-board dive into the ‘new’.
My take
I have to confess that, ironically, I see banana as a delightful flavour companion to both the Hersh-ey’s and the McD’s Fall offerings. But it’s selling point as a stand-alone contender is that it can be turned to so many different applications: any kind of beverage or sweet snack. I see it showing up prominently in break-fasts, desserts and novelty dishes as well. Have you had a Bananarama Beavertail, yet?
I launched a random search for banana recipes on Google and discovered: literally millions of pos-sibilities. And I’m sure that at least hundreds of thousands of them would be valid recipes. PB Cup and Caramel Apple, not so much…
It’ll be interesting to see who’s left standing at the end of November!
~ Maggie J.