After the most brutal summer in history—or at least since the Mesozoic Era—it seems that fall is finally here. As Houstonians change out of their tank tops and into the more fall-appropriate short sleeve shirts we’ll all be wearing well into November, many are also welcoming pumpkin spice, fall’s most polarizing treat, back into their lives. Similar to oft-maligned fall snacks like candy corn and Circus Peanuts, there’s not much of a middle ground when it comes to pumpkin spice. People tend to have strong feelings about the flavor, from complete adoration to utter disgust.

On one side of the aisle, you have the pumpkin spice embracers, people who rush to Starbucks every late summer when the coffee juggernaut drops its PSL in an attempt to sip their way into cooler weather. Folks in this crowd tend to go all in, buying everything from pumpkin spice–scented soaps and candles to teas and creamers. On the other side, you have the haters, many of whom spend the early days of fall reposting memes calling people with a penchant for pumpkin everything from “basic” to words that will send your phone into an autocorrecting frenzy.

In Houston, there are local businesses owned by good people on both sides. But however much the detractors hate all things pumpkin spice, it’s a trend with enough dollar signs behind it that business owners would be silly to fully boycott. Fluff Bake Bar owner Rebecca Masson is a member of this crowd. “It’s a basic bitch trope,” Masson says. “Your pumpkin spice latte and your cable-knit sweater.” Despite her dislike of the seasonal cliche, Masson has for years been making pumpkin whoopie pies from October 1 through Thanksgiving to satiate the rabid pumpkin spice crowd.

Unfortunately for Masson, pumpkin spice season has been creeping up earlier every year. Starbucks, the longtime corporate heralder of seasonal change, launched its fall menu on August 24 this year, a full month before the official meteorological start of fall—and when Houstonians were still sweating buckets. This year’s launch tripped the breaker for fall content, and social media was awash much too early with influencers testing out the waters with late-summer posts of thigh-high boots, red flannels, and, of course, pumpkin spice lattes.

After she started seeing pumpkin spice popping up on menus all over town, Masson caved and started selling her whoopie pies in mid-September. “I wrestle with the thought of bringing pumpkin spice into our lives while it’s still 97 degrees outside. It just doesn’t seem right,” she wrote in a post to social media on September 15. “But then I look around and see everyone is doing it… pumpkin whoopie pies are here. So come get your fix. That first bite makes you think you might be able to wear a sweater tomorrow.”

Masson says a lot of her customers count down the days to when they’ll be able to eat her pumpkin whoopie pies again, and that it’s not uncommon for people to hoard them even when they are still in steady supply at her bakery. The first Saturday she had them this year, she sold 50. Sales are still going strong in October. “Maybe it’s those dog days of summer that have people dying for a taste of fall,” Mason says. “I mean, I’m tired of being hot too, but I’m not gonna go drink a pumpkin spice latte.”

Longtime barista Stephen Walker, who works at Three Keys Coffee Bar in Finn Hall, is on the front lines of the pumpkin spice wars. Every year in the fall, no matter what type of coffee shop he’s worked at, it’s a guarantee that some people will come in asking for pumpkin spice lattes, even if it isn’t listed on the shop’s menu. “There’s a lot of exciting things happening in coffee that don’t involve adding sugar and spice and pumpkin sauce to a latte,” Walker bemoans. 

Despite the coffee world’s general derision toward pumpkin spice, the Three Keys team didn’t want to be gatekeepers this year, so they decided to bite the bullet and put a pumpkin spice latte on the menu. “People were going to come in and ask for that drink regardless of if we had it or not,” Walker says. “So we can either offer them a good experience or turn them away.”

The Three Keys version of a pumpkin spice latte, which Walker developed, is different from your standard Starbucks one: in addition to pumpkin sauce, there’s also some citrus and a powdered apple concentrate mixed in. It’s an elevated version of the drink that sports a more developed flavor profile than the ones served at the Starbucks across the street from the shop. “If they’re going to come in and ask for it, I’m going to give them the best version they’ve ever had,” Walker says.

Although Walker and Masson are not the biggest fans of pumpkin spice season, they both understand why people still cling to the seasonal cliche—especially this year. “People are looking for something to give them a sign that the heat is going to end,” Masson says. It’s a perspective shared by Walker, who thinks people embrace pumpkin spice so strongly in Houston because there are few outward representations of fall in the area, things like leaves changing color or cooler air.

“It’s more about what people want from the drink than the flavor,” he says. “In Houston, you have to live fall inside of your mind, and a seasonal drink does that for some people.”