Starbucks confirmed that the Pumpkin Spice Latte will return on August 28 - its earliest launch date in years

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Starbucks' Pumpkin Spice Latte.

• Starbucks' Pumpkin Spice Latte - also known as the PSL - returns to menus on August 28, Starbucks confirmed on Tuesday.
• This is the earliest debut date in years for the Pumpkin Spice Latte, with the beverage typically launching around the first week of September.
• Over the last 15 years, the Pumpkin Spice Latte has become an iconic marker of the beginning of autumn.

Starbucks has confirmed that the Pumpkin Spice Latte will return on Tuesday, August 28, as the chain kicks off the arrival of autumn 2018.

On Tuesday, the coffee giant announced that the drink will return on August 28, the Tuesday before Labor Day, confirming Business Insider's reporting from earlier in August.

Internal documents viewed by Business Insider show that in addition to the PSL, Starbucks also plans to bring back the Salted Caramel Mocha and the Teavana Pumpkin Spice Chai Tea Latte, which was first introduced last year, on August 28. Other beverages are slated to debut later in the fall.

This will be the 15th year that Starbucks will serve the Pumpkin Spice Latte, a seasonal beverage that has become an iconic marker of fall for many. While the Pumpkin Spice Latte drives sales for Starbucks, it has also created issues as the chain attempts to maintain a degree of its upscale, coffee-snob-approved image.

Starbucks typically launches the PSL around the first week of September. In recent years, the chain has offered an early launch that often kicks off in late August for in-the-know customers.

However, an August 28 launch is one of the earliest Starbucks has announced in years.

The last time the chain debuted the Pumpkin Spice Latte in August was in 2014, when customers who participated in an online scavenger hunt could order the drink on August 26, prior to the September 2 launch date.