This season commences with the flavor everyone seemingly loves or loves to diss, especially as its annual resurgence creeps earlier and earlier. We’re of course talking about pumpkin spice, which dominates the drink sphere.

According to market research, consumers will go out of their way for a pumpkin spice latte, the liquid ode to fall. This year, coffee empire Starbucks got creative with their unveiling, teasing thousands of fans with an early “PSL hatch” via Facebook Live. The beverage has, as of September 5th, officially resurfaced for another cozy go around.

With 182 “Chicago” locations, opportunities to secure your own Starbucks’ PSL abounds. It’s no surprise that The Loop, an epicenter of business, culture, commerce, and transit, harvests a majority of these opportunities.

PSL swarms The Loop | Socrata

Still, the Bucktown area, for example, offers 4 spots to secure the specialty latte within .8 miles of each other.

Not a bad showing for Bucktown | Socrata

Whether or not the heavily dotted areas garner more traffic during autumn, it just might be the whipped cream topper—the intensified draw for the mad dash of pumpkin obsessed.

Starbucks shops aren’t the only recipients of fanatics, though. Big name competitors and local joints play the pumpkin game with their own versions of this mega popular offering.

So, why do consumers go nuts for these seasonal concoctions?

Maybe it’s something about “specialty” that elicits the drive in consumers to drive, cycle, ride, or walk through new, dense, or distant neighborhoods when the leaves change and that first whiff of “spice” permeates.

Maybe it’s not as much about the cup’s label as it is about savoring (or excitedly draining) the “limited time yearly” contents.

Feature photo courtesy of Starbucks.