McDonald’s Caramel Apple Pie coffee is the fast food chain’s sole seasonal coffee offering this autumn, with the Pumpkin Spice Latte dropped entirely from this year’s lineup. The announcement came on Tuesday 18 August, when McDonald’s confirmed the new range covers hot and iced lattes, iced coffee, and a frappé option, each finished with whipped cream, salted caramel sauce, and apple pie crumbles.
McDonald’s Caramel Apple Pie Coffee: What’s in the Range
‘Caramel Apple Pie is the only fall coffee flavor McDonald’s is releasing this year,’ a spokesperson for McDonald’s confirmed to Delish. ‘While Pumpkin Spice will not be part of this year’s lineup, we’re always exploring new ways to give fans seasonal flavors to enjoy. We chose Caramel Apple Pie because it offers a fresh take on the familiar tastes of fall, and one we think fans will fall in love with.’
The range breaks down into four products: the Caramel Apple Pie Latte (available hot or iced), the Caramel Apple Pie Iced Coffee, and the Caramel Apple Pie Frappé. The Caramel Apple Pie syrup can also be added directly to standard hot or iced coffee and lattes, giving the flavour a degree of flexibility across the menu.
The apple pie crumble topping is the detail that sets the drinks apart visually and texturally. It sits alongside the salted caramel drizzle and whipped cream on every item in the lineup, making the finish as much about texture as flavour.
Why the Apple Pie Connection Matters for McDonald’s
The apple pie flavour is not an arbitrary choice. McDonald’s has been serving the spiced dessert since the late 1960s, around the same time the Big Mac first appeared on menus, making it one of the chain’s most enduring menu items. Translating that into a coffee format gives the new range a degree of heritage that a more novel autumn flavour might not carry.
The coffee market context adds some weight to the decision. According to Food & Wine, McDonald’s ranks as the No. 3 national chain for coffee in the United States, which means the seasonal lineup carries commercial consequences well beyond a niche fan base. Replacing the Pumpkin Spice Latte, one of the most recognisable autumn coffee products in the market, is a calculated move for a chain operating at that scale.
Alongside the new coffee drinks, Tasting Table reports that McDonald’s has also launched new Red Bull energy drinks as part of its broader autumn drinks push. The dual launch positions the chain’s beverage programme as a wider seasonal refresh rather than a straightforward swap of one coffee flavour for another.
Pumpkin Spice Fans Have Options Elsewhere
The removal of the Pumpkin Spice Latte will land hard for a portion of McDonald’s regulars. The drink had become a reliable seasonal fixture, and its absence leaves a gap that the new apple pie format will need to fill in terms of both footfall and social media engagement, areas where the PSL has historically performed well.
For those unwilling to give up on pumpkin spice this autumn, Starbucks continues to offer the PSL as part of its seasonal range. The McDonald’s spokesperson did not indicate whether pumpkin spice would return in future years, saying only that the chain is ‘always exploring new ways to give fans seasonal flavors to enjoy.’
What the full autumn range does confirm is that McDonald’s is treating its coffee programme as a genuine competitive lever, not merely an add-on. Ranked third nationally for coffee and now rolling out both a new seasonal latte format and an energy drink range simultaneously, the chain’s beverage push this year extends considerably beyond a single cup swap. Whether the Caramel Apple Pie coffee builds the kind of seasonal loyalty the Pumpkin Spice Latte generated is the question the next few weeks will begin to answer. McDonald’s has not confirmed a specific end date for the autumn lineup.