How soon is too soon for the pumpkin-spiced taste of fall?

We’re smack dab in the middle of the (dry) heat of summer in the Valley. It’s that time of the year when the temperatures only dip below triple digits for just a few wee hours. The water in the tap runs warm the second you open it. The outdoors feel like a hot convection oven. The only chill-inducing nip in the air comes if you set your air conditioning below 78 degrees. 

The summer weather may not be relenting, but other signs of fall are here. Most schools are back in session. Cutesy pumpkin tchotchkes or ghoulish Halloween decorations line the shelves of just about any big box store. Spirit Halloween will rise from the dead this month.

The most notable harbinger of fall, at least as far as food is concerned, is the return of the Starbucks Pumpkin Spiced Latte. The drink signals the changing of the season, at least in our minds, more than the solstice (which we’re still 47 days from, not that we’re counting). Now a ubiquitous fall treat, cafes large and small, local and chain, weigh when to roll out their seasonal pumpkin features.

Starbucks just announced its fall drinks return on Aug. 25. To that, one local cafe says, “Hold my PSL.”

What’s on 32 Shea’s fall menu?

Eager to usher in fall even sooner, the charming north Phoenix restaurant and drive-thru 32 Shea debuted its autumn-inspired menu at the start of this month. That means lattes, espresso martinis and flatbreads chock-full of harvest squash and warming holiday spices, even while we’re getting alerts for daily extreme heat warnings. 

It’s the third year the restaurant, located on 32nd Street and Shea Boulevard, has unabashedly embraced fall flavors well before the seasons change. 

“Every year our guests start asking when pumpkin season is coming back,” Chadd Satterfield, 32 Shea’s general manager, said in a press release. “If sipping pumpkin lattes and cocktails in August brings joy during this extreme heat, we’re happy to do our part.”

They might be onto something. Arizonans are among the nation’s most pumpkin-spice obsessed, seeking out iced versions of the squash-and-cinnamon-spiked lattes. One 32 Shea fan speculates on Instagram that “we need pumpkin earlier than other people because it gives us hope that it won’t be THIS hot forever.”

32 Shea’s new seasonal latte takes a nod from the baked treat, pumpkin loaf. The espresso drink features pumpkin, white chocolate, toasted marshmallow sweet cream, a drizzle of honey and a crumble of pumpkin wafers. The cafe isn’t stopping with coffee. You can build a fall-manifesting happy hour with a tequila Spiced Pumpkin Espresso Martini and a Pumpkin Prosciutto Flatbread topped with butternut squash and pumpkin goat cheese.

Though 32 Shea may be among the first in the Valley to debut fall-inspired drinks and food, even the cafe has its limits. The pumpkin-spiced treats disappear after Halloween. 

32 Shea

10626 N. 32nd St.