How to Hack Starbucks for Cheap Coffee

Starbucks isn’t known for its cheap coffee, but here are a few Starbucks hacks from a Starbucks employee that’ll help you get cheaper coffee from America’s most common coffee chain.

Starbucks user, and long-time Starbucks employee, Mike Handler has posted a number of great tips for hacking Starbucks to get cheaper coffee. Most of the hacks revolve around ordering off-item menus or taking advantage of lesser-known options to get a cheap-er (but very similar) alternative to a more expensive drink. For example:

If you want espresso, avoid the options already on the menu board.Americanos cost just a little more than a cup of brewed coffee, but packs more of a caffeine punch because it’s espresso and hot wa-ter. It tastes like coffee and you can sweeten it just like you would your normal cup of coffee. More bang for your buck.

Also mentioned is the possibility of talking your way into a free drink by purchasing Starbuck’s VIA instant coffee:

Also, if you want a good coffee that is also quick and easy, Starbucks is pressuring their stores profusely to up their VIA sales. It’s instant, water soluble coffee. No chemicals, no freeze drying.Actually quite good. I’ve used it when I’m staying in a hotel and it tastes just like cof-fee (Get the bold Italian Roast though, not the Colombian).

A 12 pack of that stuff is $9.95. Not bad price per cup. And it dissolves in hot or cold water and even milk (.98 cent latte anyone?). It’s a good gift for someone who works in an office with bad coffee or travels a lot. It’s also wonderful in cooking. Act very skeptical and ask a lot of questions about it. If you don’t get offered a free drink or some other deal with it within 2 minuets, I’d be very surprised.

Now, I know as a rule frugal people don’t buy Starbucks drinks. But say you’re in a hurry and you need a caffeine fix, or you’re a tea junkie like me and couldn’t wait for your kettle to boil some water before your class/work/whatever. Or maybe your with some friends who all want to go to Starbucks (Because, say what you will about Starbucks, but if you want a place to hang out with your friends other than your house, Starbucks is much cheaper than a restaurant or bar), how can you save money?

I’ve worked at Starbucks a long time now, and there’s a few things you can do to hack the system.

Brewed coffee is cheap enough. Ask for a pour over of their bold coffee for a fresher cup. It takes a few minuets, but it’s fresher and costs the same amount. Also, if you and several of your friends all want coffee, ask for a rench Press. It’s around 4 dollars and is ap-proximately 45 oz of fresh, hot, French pressed coffee. And you can pick whichever blend you’d like.

If you want espresso, avoid the options already on the menu board. Americanos cost just a little more than a cup of brewed coffee, but packs more of a caffeine punch because it’s espresso and hot water. It tastes like coffee and you can sweeten it just like you would your normal cup of coffee.

More bang for your buck. If you want an extra shot, don’t ask for one. Ask for a “grande Americano in a tall cup”. That way, they charge you an extra 30 cents, instead of an extra 70 cents for the shot of espresso. This works because Grande Americanos get three shots. Same would work for a Venti. My manager tells all his partners to do this by default, whether the customer asks for it that way or not, but other stores may not be so nice.

If you like iced drinks, asking for a triple espresso in a Venti cup over ice, and then filling it with milk after the fact at the condiment bar is a great way to get an iced latte for about 2dollars.

Even adding a flavor (which is 40 cents extra) still saves you about 50%. Unfortunately, there’s no real way to do this with hot lattes, as you need a barista to steam the milk for you.

If you and a friend are out and want a Frappuccino, ask for a Venti split into two tall cups. Iced venti cups are 24 oz. Tall are 12. Viola. Two talls would cost you about 6 bucks, a venti, 4.

If you are secretly a Starbucks junkie, there’s a new loyalty program Starbucks came out with. You get a Starbucks gift card (Not credit), register it online, and pay with your card each time, reloading it as you go. You get a free drink (Any kind of drink, not matter how expensive) every 10 transactions or so. You get a free tall coffee with each purchase of a 1lb of coffee and a free tall drink of your choice for each 2lbs. You also get a free drink on your birthday. If you have one of these, and are getting drinks for multiple people, ring up each drink separately.

Also, if you want a good coffee that is also quick and easy, Star-bucks is pressuring their stores profusely to up their VIA sales. It’s instant, water soluble coffee. No chemicals, no freeze drying. Actually quite good. I’ve used it when I’m staying in a hotel and it tastes just like coffee (Get the bold Italian Roast though, not the Colombian). A 12 pack of that stuff is $9.95. Not bad price per cup. And it dissolves in hot or cold water and even milk (.98 cent latte anyone?). It’s a good gift for someone who works in an office with bad coffee or travels a lot. It’s also wonderful in cooking. Act very skeptical and ask a lot of questions about it. If you don’t get offered a free drink or some other deal with it within 2 minuets, I’d be very surprised.

Also, if you buy Star-bucks coffee in a grocery store, it will come with a coupon for a free tall cup of coffee.n actuality, the ring code works for any size. In addition to that, if you want a more expensive drink, we can take the price of a tall coffee off for you from the original price.

Those are just two examples. For a full range of great tips on getting all kinds of cheaper coffee at Starbucks, be sure to hit the DOWNLOAD NOW BUTTON BELLOW for the list of STARBUCKS HACKS....

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