TikTok Is Losing It Over This Brutally Honest Pumpkin Spice Takedown
It's not quite fall yet, but food companies (and Starbucks) clearly think our love of pumpkins knows no season. We have no idea why Starbucks wants us to leave summer behind so early and start thinking about everyone's favorite orange gourd, but the world's biggest coffee chain started selling Pumpkin Spice Lattes at locations in the U.S. and Canada on August 24, according to its website. Pumpkin Cream Cold Brews, pumpkin cream cheese muffins, and pumpkin scones also showed up in Starbucks stores that day. Are pumpkins even ripe yet?
If you're one of those people who reflexively rolls their eyes when someone asks for a coffee infused with pumpkin flavor while you're waiting to order your black Americano — same as every other day of the year — then you'll appreciate a recent series by TikToker Louis Levanti. He has gone viral with food-related videos before, including a Doritos and sour cream hangover cure he posted in June, and his version of air-fried pasta chips, which has been watched 2 million times.
More recently, Levanti has been skewering pumpkin-spiced food products you might not even know exist. After watching his four-part (so far) series, it's hard to argue with his point: The whole pumpkin spice craze has gone too far.
TikToker on Pumpkin Spice Kool-Aid: 'Oh yeah! More like, oh no!'
In his first TikTok pumpkin spice tirade, posted August 19, Louis Levanti couldn't believe some of the products he found that were laced with pumpkin. Take Pumpkin Spice Kool-Aid, for example. "'Oh yeah!' More like, 'Oh no!'" Levanti says. "One sip of this, and I'm going to throw up."
In the second video, Levanti must come to terms with the existence of Pumpkin Pie Kit Kat bars. "This is the ultimate betrayal," he says. "Kit Kats are my favorite candy, and we just decide to besmirch the name." Then he offers commentary on Vive's pumpkin spice sparkling water: "You know what? Dehydration doesn't sound so bad."
Land-O-Lakes pumpkin spice butter feels Levanti's wrath in the third video. "They already have pumpkin spice bread and pumpkin spice bagels," he says. "At this point, just eat the f****** pumpkin."
It's hard to tell which pumpkin spice product generated the most hostility in Levanti's heart. In the fourth video, posted September 7, he seems to take Hidden Valley's pumpkin spice ranch dressing personally. "This deserves the electric chair," Levanti says. "Who thought this was a good idea? Like, what the f*** do you even dip in this?" Uh ... Pumpkin Pie Pop Tarts?
TikTok commenters insist Pumpkin Spice Oreos are delicious
Louis Levanti's four anti-pumpkin spice rants on TikTok have drawn nearly 1.5 million views so far, with the first video alone attracting 1 million views. The TikToker has received nearly 4,000 comments on the topic.
Some commenters agreed with Levanti, such as the one who said, "I agree pumpkin spice is so overrated." But many commenters took issue with Levanti's unwavering disdain for all things pumpkin spice. His decision to trash Pumpkin Spice Oreos in the first video was especially unpopular. "You've obviously never had the Pumpkin Spice Oreos before," one commenter responded. "I could eat a bucket of those pumpkin Oreos," another said.
A commenter on the second video took issue with Levanti dissing the Vive water, while also pointing out that the product is actually a hard seltzer — so hydration is not the goal in any case. But this commenter was clearly biased. "The pumpkin spice hard seltzer Vive was actually really good and very popular!" the commenter wrote. "I work for the brewery that made it!"
Levanti asked commenters in the most recent video to recommend other pumpkin-infused foods for future roasting. So stay tuned for more pumpkin spice hate from the TikToker who declares himself to be "your brutally honest internet best friend."