The evolution of my Starbucks habit (aka why I’m a cheap bitch)

Starbucksz

When I first started getting Starbucks in London I must admit that I was a little bit embarrassed.  After having lived in Spain for 4 1/2 years the thought of cafe para llevar (coffee to go) was pretty much a cardinal sin.  I mean, what kind of unsophisticated monkey would actually get subpar coffee that was 20 oz and walk around with it?  I got over that quickly as I adjusted to freezing my ass off in London.

I started out drinking tall non-fat lattes.  Somewhere along the line I graduated to vanilla latte.  Then I bumped up my caffeine intake to a grande which contains 2 shots of espresso.  The only real change that I have made to that in the last year was the addition of soy milk.  This was all find and great in England where my grande vanilla latte was £2.40.  In the UK your Starbucks card lands you free vanilla, free extra shots and free soy milk.  Pretty good deal.

Then I moved back to the States.

The same grande soy vanilla latte here is $5.25.  Um.  A bit steep when you pound one of those every day.  My dumb Starbucks card seemed to be on constant reload.  Total fail.  That is the same cost as my internet + cable combined per month.

So I had to come up with a new drink to combat my expensive habit.

The solution?

Grande bold drip with soy milk + vanilla shot.  More caffeine / less than half the price.  I can get this combo for $1.95.

Yes.  I am that cheap.

For the record, I would probably have Blue Bottle every day if I had the patience to waste 30 minutes in a queue every day.  But I'm just not that hipster…