How To Get Free Refills At Starbucks

Over the years we've learned different ways to get our hands on free Starbucks drinks, but not all of them are completely above board — remember the guy that bought 365 Starbucks cards and registered each one with a different birthday so he could get his "free birthday drink" every single day of the year? Obviously, those morally questionable hacks should probably be avoided, if for no other reason than that you don't want your barista to despise you, but if you're looking for a legitimate way to get free refills on your Starbucks drink, this hack's for you.

MyRecipes reported in July 2019 that the key to free coffee and tea at Starbucks has been under our noses this whole time — we just didn't realize it. According to the Starbucks Rewards terms of service, all you have to do is sign up for the Starbucks Rewards program and use a Starbucks Card registered to that rewards account when you make your drink purchase. Next stop, free refills. Now before you start getting any big ideas about all the gratis Grande triple Mocha Frappuccinos you're going to get, you'd better adjust your expectations. The free refill offer is only good for plain ol' brewed coffee and tea (hot or iced) — but hey, even plain ol' brewed coffee and tea you get for free is better than coffee and tea you have to pay for, right?

There's only one real rule you'll need to abide by, and this one is where the honor system comes in: You must collect your free refill during the same visit to the coffee shop, meaning that you're technically not supposed to get your morning caffeine fix on the way in to work, head into the office, then pop back in to Starbucks after lunch to cash in on the freebie. Is there any way for a busy barista to know that you haven't been hunkered down in the corner, click-clacking away on your laptop the whole day? Maybe not, but you don't want to be the 365-birthdays-a-year guy who all the baristas roll their eyes at, do you?