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Eater: Starbucks Changes Rewards Program

I don’t go to Starbucks that often, but when I do – especially when it’s a multi-drink run – I often shake my head at the somewhat draconian rewards system. Shake no more:

Customers who have been using Starbucks’s rewards program for the past few years have been able to earn a freebie after 12 visits, regardless of what they purchased each time. The system therefore slightly benefited those who purchased a small/tall coffee and opted for a fancier free drink on the 13th visit. Anyone that was spending $5 (or less) per visit will no longer benefit from the new system, as the AP notes. Now, people will have to spend a minimum of $62.50 — or earn 125 stars — before getting their first free item.

O&F
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Caffeinated Cereal Milk

As if it isn’t hard enough to keep my caffeine-craving three year old from constantly begging me for a sip of my coffee, Starbucks has gone off and concocted a new latte flavor that conjures “the taste of cereal milk, the delicious leftovers in your breakfast bowl”. No, daughter, you may not have another sip of daddy’s caffeinated cereal milk.

That’s right, I’m talking about none other than the Toasted Graham Latte, Starbucks’ first new fall flavor in over four years1. I happened to be on a mini-vacation with the family this weekend and vacations are always a good time to try something new so I gave it a shot. It’s a nice change of pace if you’re tired of the PSL craze but still crave something on the sweeter side. It probably won’t woo the PSL-obsessed crowd, at least for now, but it tastes like something you’d expect to come out of the Starbucks flavor lab. If you’re not normally a fan of the Starbucks flavor profile, then this new flavor certainly isn’t going to win you over. But I’m going to guess you already knew that anyway2.


  1. Their words, not mine. Personally, it feels to me like there’s a new flavor on the board every time I walk in there.  ↩

  2. Starbucks has something entirely different up their sleeve for you.  ↩