Tips to Get Cheap Starbucks Drinks on the Regular

Sign up for Starbucks Rewards.

Sign up for Starbucks Rewards (it’s free!) and get a free beverage or treat on your birthday plus more goodies.

Snag seconds with the Starbucks free refill policy

Is one cup of coffee ever enough? When you’re in the rewards program and use your registered Starbucks Card or app to purchase any handcrafted beverage, you can get free refills of brewed coffee (hot, iced or cold brew) and tea (hot or iced) during the same store visit, regardless of the original beverage.

Enjoy $2 iced lattes. 

Typically, iced venti lattes run over $4. Order a triple espresso over ice in a venti cup, and then fill your cup with milk over in the condiment area. That’s one cheap Starbucks drink!

Iced coffee

Price: Tall, $2.25, Grande, $2.65, Venti, $2.95

Important hack: You can get a vanilla or caramel iced coffee for no extra charge. Change your beverage order up by adding either of those flavors and not adding a dime to your bill.

Hot coffee

Price: Tall, $1.85, Grande, $2.10, Venti, $2.45

Adding flavor — 50 cents*

But as I said, for iced coffee you can get vanilla or caramel flavor for no extra charge! The price of flavor is also built into the seasonal iced teas.

Subbing Sumatran Coconut Milk or Soy Milk — 50 cents.

Adding an espresso shot — 80 cents

Putting any drink over Venti — 30 cents

BYOC (bring your own cup).

Bringing in your own tumbler or mug will earn you 10 cents off your order. If you grab a drink every day, that’s $36.50 per year in savings, plus the satisfaction of 365 fewer cups per year in your local landfill. (Be even more environmentally friendly by ditching straws with your iced beverages.)

Cut out the ice.

Ice cubes take up a lot of cup real estate. You’re paying for your drink—not for ice—so ask for light ice. If you still want the full amount of ice, ask for it on the side, and order your drink in a larger cup for an easy way to save money at Starbucks.

Switch from frapps to iced or Cold Brew

Frappuccinos are great, but they’re also more expensive. An iced coffee like a white chocolate mocha or caramel macchiato tastes blissful and will save you about $1—and some unnecessary calories and sugar.

Price: Tall, $2.94

Maybe I’m selling out a generation of hipsters by saying this, but Starbucks cold brew is actually delicious. It’s not a match for Stumptown cold brew, but it still has a strong flavor and low acidity. I rarely go to Starbucks, but when I do, this is my drink of choice.

Order a short. 

Tall isn’t the smallest size. Get a short, which is less expensive and contains the same amount of espresso as a tall, just less milk. Word on the street is the short isn’t the only secret size: They offer a 31-ounce trenta size for cold drinks.

Build your own chai latte.

Instead of ordering the fancy, expensive chai latte, make your own at the condiment bar. Simply order a chai brewed tea and then add milk and sugar to your liking at the condiment station.

Score a cheap(er) latte

Instead of ordering an iced latte, ask for a doppio — or double shot of espresso over ice — in a grande or venti cup. Then, head over to the milk table to fill it to the top and voila, cheap latte!

Lastly , My favorite substitute for any of the fall/winter latte flavors (which are both expensive and high in calories): a grande skim misto with 1 to 2 pumps of the flavor of your choice (I usually get 2 pumps of White Mocha).

- S