Have you ever gone into Starbucks and ordered a beverage only to realize after that you spent $5 or more on a drink? When you could have spent that on a meal, a pint of ice cream, or even better, two pints of ice cream?!
Since coming to college, I’ve always been concerned with two things: how to manage my finances and coffee. But coffee can get expensive, especially from Starbucks. That being said, I am going to teach you four beverage ideas that can save you a dollar or two and still get you the caffeine you need. I know that a dollar or two is not that much but here in Hawai’i, I can get myself a musubi as a quick snack in between classes with those savings.
Iced Coffee
Iced coffee is a classic for me, and I can customize it with whatever milk and syrup I want. I prefer going with nonfat milk and toffee nut syrup instead of regular classic. Just a tip with this drink, ask for light ice because it does not taste good watered down *inserts cringing face emoji*. According to the Starbucks app, for a grande, this costs $3.30!
Espresso shots
I am a die hard fan of espresso. I prefer espresso over regular coffee any day but I hold back on it and save it for those days that I am a zombie. Before I knew about plain old espresso shots, I would order iced caramel macchiatos on the weekly and I would spend five, almost six dollars on a grande. My older sister actually taught me this trick to order however many espresso shots over ice with your preference of syrup. My order is usually three shots of espresso with three pumps of caramel in a grande cup (they will ask what size cup you want, I usually go with a grande because I don’t need a lot of room for milk). I just pour my own milk at the bar and there is my makeshift caramel macchiato! According to the Starbucks app, this costs $3.40!
Hot Coffee
I rarely catch myself drinking a hot cup of coffee, but we do get those rainy days in Hawai’i. And me being me, I never bring my umbrella and I get drenched in the rain, forced to sit in class for an hour freezing in the air conditioning. These are the days I need a hot cup of coffee to just warm me up and my suggestion is a regular Pike Place coffee. I know it might seem boring and it is no latte, but for those college students who just need something warm and caffeinated, this will do the trick. My little spin on this is asking for caramel drizzle at the bottom of the cup before they pour the coffee in. I then stir it up with some milk and it is the right amount of sweetness for me and it just melts into the coffee. According to the Starbucks app, this costs $2.57!
Iced Tea
On those hot days in Hawai’i (which is every day) I crave a good iced tea. My go-to drink is an iced green tea with apple juice as a filler for water. Believe it or not, this drink is so refreshing and you are getting more bang for your buck when you replace water with apple juice! Again, my older sister taught me this trick because regular green tea can be bland while apple juice just gives it that extra refreshing taste. Sadly, you can’t order this from your app, but I ask for this drink numerous times and there has never been a problem with the baristas!
These are my four ways of saving money from Starbucks – tell all your college friends and let them know that Starbucks does not need to be a once-a-week thing anymore.