Starbucks Quest for Gold (Membership)

This will probably be the worst first world problem you've ever heard me talk about to date. Sometime back in late November, early December, shortly before my 25th birthday, I was overcome with the urge to spend an excessive amount of money at Starbucks in order to reach gold membership and receive my very own gold member's only card to let everyone know that I have a problem. Actually, I'm just going to pretend that this was (and is) my quarter-life crisis solution, one that I felt would be easily obtainable.

Some people spend their money on overly priced mixed drinks during happy hour. Others on $15 skeins of yarn, etc. I happen to like espresso and have always come to terms with the fact that I have no problem dropping $5-10 a month on overly-priced espresso beverages, so why shouldn't my problem loyalty be rewarded? Actually, when I did the math, the 32 beverages required by the end of the year to reach GOLD factors out to around 2-3 drinks a month. If I want to be cheap all I have to buy a $1.75 - $2 Tazo tea. (Don't talk to me about their drip-brewed coffee.)

Which brings me to last night. After picking up some groceries, I made a beeline towards Starbucks for my bimonthly drink, where the barista-dude on duty informed me of their new, reusable cup for only $1. He said it would be very green of me, but I had another reason, being that whenever you bring the cup, 10¢ will be deducted from the price of your drink. (Although, it does make sense to reuse a cup if I'm going to do this, it just does.) Twenty-two beverages separate me from GOLD, and ten of those will pay off the cup while the remaining twelve drinks will just be cents in my pocket! (It's okay, you can laugh. You can even point and laugh - I understand completely.)

This cup only comes in one size, grande. I only order tall, which works out well for me as the milk foam won't get suck to the lid. It's only a dollar, and although it probably cost a lot less to produce, it's much cheaper than any of their other reusable cups. Now I can flaunt my faux-superiority and uber-greenness as I trot around town lugging BOTH my reusable Starbucks mug (I do it for the GOLD) and reusable water bottle (to rehydrate after the caffeine sucks the moisture from my system). Not that I have a purse big enough to fit both of them.

In order to reach GOLD, you need to register a reloadable gift card. I add $10 to it whenever it dips below $2 and limit myself to 2-3 drinks a month. It's just what I like to do.

Last night, I tried the hazelnut macchiato as suggested by the barista-dude. Typically, I hate hazelnut, but I didn't really think the little bit of flavored drizzle would bother me much, and it didn't. Next time I'm getting a cappuccino because I've been craving the milk foam. Has anyone tried their green tea latte? I've read that it's absolutely disgusting but curiosity might get the best of me.