Influencers are bringing carved pumpkins into Starbucks and asking for their drinks to be poured inside

16 October 2025

TikTokkers are asking baristas to make their drinks directly in the pumpkin. TikTok – elimm_g

A new TikTok-driven trend has captured attention this fall: people hollowing out small pumpkins and treating them as makeshift Starbucks cups, demanding that baristas brew their seasonal drinks directly inside the gourds. Videos circulating online show smiling customers and excited baristas executing the ritual. In one clip a woman scans a pumpkin, whips it open, and then presents it at the counter, watching as the barista fills it with coffee, whips cream topping, and all.

Some baristas appear to delight in the novelty, joking on camera about charging extra for the whimsical vessel. “If it’s a little more than a tall, we’ll just cover it in Cool Whip,” one can be heard saying, playful but revealing the performance aspect of some of these interactions. Other store locations have declined the request outright, citing company rules or practical constraints.

The responses from baristas range from bemused to exasperated. One worker cautioned that they are not allowed to accept outside food containers, warning that the trend could conflict with health and safety protocols. Another cited personal allergy to pumpkins as a reason to refuse. Ex-baristas and food-service veterans watching from online comment threads critique the practice as burdensome and unfair to staff already juggling rushes and order queues.

Behind the trend is social media theater. TikTok users promote the pumpkin cup idea under fall and spooky season aesthetics, packaging it as an “aesthetic moment” more than a functional drink container. One video that gained traction showed the text “Your sign to take your mini pumpkin to Starbucks” superimposed over a scene of someone placing the pumpkin on the counter.

Not everyone is amused. Critics point out that this puts baristas in awkward positions demanding extra steps during busy shifts, bending rules, adding sanitation complexity. One commenter wrote, “Workers should not be humiliated or dragged into some performative crap that they didn’t consent to because you want clicks.” Another said, “Cute, but I would not do it. Poor Starbucks workers. They go through the most.”

There’s also a real health concern lodged by dietitians and food safety experts. Once a pumpkin is cut open, its interior becomes a moist, porous environment ideal for bacterial growth. Proper sanitization is nearly impossible given the irregular surfaces and residual pulp. Add in external dirt or debris from the pumpkin’s outer shell, and there’s elevated risk of contaminants entering the drink. The potential for cross-contamination is not negligible in a food service environment.

Nutritionally, the pumpkin vessel provides little beyond visual appeal. Any seepage of vitamins or fiber is negligible, and experts agree that the practice offers no real dietary benefit.

Starbucks as a brand has remained mostly silent publicly, though baristas report being told to refuse pumpkin requests in lines with regulations. The chain’s official rules prohibit use of outside containers for beverage preparation, largely to maintain quality, consistency, and safety controls.

In the larger picture, this trend flags a convergence of content culture, spectacle, and the pressure placed on service workers to participate in consumers’ social media narratives. Consumers are sometimes treating baristas not just as staff but as background performers.

Whether the pumpkin cup fad will last remains uncertain. Many stores seem likely to crack down or simply refuse to comply. Commenters are already predicting bans on pumpkins at Starbucks shops if the trend goes unchecked.

But for a moment, Starbucks counters are turning into tiny stages for Halloween content. And baristas are the unseen actors navigating the tension between viral aesthetics and everyday labor.