While there exists some clever Starbucks menu hacks that’ll definitely save you money, it’s really hard to beat “free”. As in free Starbucks coffee, free refills, and even free Starbucks gift cards. Here are some really easy ways to earn all three from your local Starbucks.

Free Starbucks Refills

In order to score a free coffee refill at Starbucks, you’ll need either a registered Starbucks card or their mobile app on your phone.

Then use either to order any “Handcrafted Beverage” and you qualify for a free refill on that visit.

A handcrafted beverage is anything a barista makes with their hands. So it excludes bottled water, juice, and soda.

The refill drink can only be one of the following: Brewed Coffee (hot, iced coffee, or cold brew) or tea (hot or iced).

But the cool thing is you can order a mocha or latte, for example, and on your way out you can get a “refill” of iced tea or brewed coffee.

So you can order a latte, then after you drink it, you can order a free caramel iced coffee as you walk out the door. In the summer-time I’ll do this with brewed coffee and use it later in the day to make an iced coffee.

Free Starbucks Coffee

Here are some highly clever ways to score free coffee at Starbucks:

• Free Birthday Drink: Join the Starbucks Rewards program and score a free drink for your birthday. Just present your Starbucks card or mobile app to redeem. The free drink will be added to your account 2 days before your birthday and will expire the day after your birthday. Anything on the menu is open for you to order as your birthday reward, even food items.

Free Holiday Drinks: They always hand out thousands of free coffee around the holidays. Be sure to follow Starbucks on Facebook as they’ll let you know what days and times you can come in and score free coffee drinks.

Free Coffee via Discounted Gift Card: A very easy way to get free coffee at Starbucks is by purchasing a discounted gift card.

For example, right now on Gift Card Granny.com you can buy a $20 Starbucks card for $17.40. Basically a free $2.60 to use on a free mocha or latte.

Want even more free coffee? Check out Raise.com and get a $100 Starbucks gift card for only $92.

How do you get free coffee at Starbucks?

See Also: All 35 Places That Hand Out Free Stickers (Most Will Mail Them To You)

Free Gift Cards

Aside from buying discounted gift cards for Starbucks, there exists some slick ways to score absolutely free gift cards.

Swagbucks – Watch videos, play games, search the web, and shop online and earn cool “SwagBucks” that you can redeem for free gift cards at Starbucks.

Ibotta – Take your grocery shopping to the next level and start redeeming Ibotta “rebates” on stuff you’ll be buying anyways.

Then once you have $20 worth of rebates (which won’t take long) and you can score a free $20 Starbucks gift card.

ShopKick – Earn “kicks” just by walking into stores in your local area. Then earn more “kicks” by browsing products and even more by making purchases.

Once you earn these kicks, you can quickly turn them into a free gift card.

Ask the Reader: How do you get free stuff from Starbucks and feed your addiction on the cheap? Or do you just stay out completely and brew at home?

By Kyle James

Photo by Bfishadow.

Kyle James( Owner/Founder )

I started Rather-Be-Shopping.com in 2000 and have become a consumer expert and advocate writing about out-of-the-box ways to save at stores like Amazon, Walmart, Target and Costco to name a few. I’ve been featured on FOX News, Good Morning America, and the NY Times talking about my savings tips. (Learn more)