How well do you know the Starbucks refill policy? The substance of it hasn’t changed in years, but Starbucks occasionally tweaks the customer-facing wording for clarity. Here’s the latest version on the Starbucks website:

Refill Policy Update Nov 2016

The last time I wrote about the Refill Policy earlier this year, and went into a lot of detail about how it works. Also, you can see a screen cap of a previous version of the Refill Policy in my last article:

The Refill Policy Update

Tall Flat White 7th and Pike Starbucks 1Nov201619Nov2016 Holiday Spice Flat White at Northgate Mall13Nov2016 Flat White at East Olive Way StarbucksRather than re-write out what this really means, I’m just going to ask you questions about the Refill Policy and see how you do. Take a look at the questions below. Please note, all of the answers are a simple “yes” or “no.”

A few of these are questions are tricky. I’ll be impressed if you get them all right! I’m quite positive that all of my answers are correct in the view of the Starbucks headquarters.

  1. You walk into Starbucks and order a tall Holiday Spice Flat White. You sit inside the store, socialize with friends, and finish your beverage. Can you receive a tall shaken iced Passion Tea at a “refill” price?
  2. You walk into a Starbucks and order a tall Vanilla Flat White. You sit inside the store, socialize, and finish your beverage. Can you receive another tall Vanilla Flat White at a “refill” price?
  3. You walk into the Roastery and order a tall Pantheon Blend III from the Clover. You sit and enjoy it. Can you order another tall Pantheon Blend III from the Clover at a “refill” price?
  4. You swing through your neighborhood Starbucks drive thru with your Grande cup from four or five hours ago. Can you get a Grande Pike Place Roast as a “refill”?
  5. You order a Venti Shaken Iced Passion Tea Lemonade. Can you get a Venti Shaken Iced Black Tea at a “refill” price, assuming you’ve stayed inside the store to drink your beverage?
  6. You order a tall Passion Tea Lemonade. Can you get another tall Passion Tea Lemonade at the “refill” price, assuming you stayed inside the store to drink your drink?
  7. You order a tall Pike Place Roast at 8:00 AM on your way into work. During lunch, after working a full morning, you return to the same Starbucks. Can you receive a tall Pike Place Roast at the “price” during this lunchtime visit to the same Starbucks location?
  8. You order a Trenta iced Passion Tea Lemonade. You drink the whole thing while sitting in the store reading a good book! (That’s a lot of iced tea!). Can you order a tall cup with a fresh hot tea bag and water and get it as a “refill” price?
  9. You order a Venti Java Chip Frappuccino. You sit in the store and play Words With Friends. Before you know it, you’ve consumed your whole Frappuccino. Can you order a tall cup with a fresh hot tea bag and water and get it as a “refill” price?
  10. You order a Venti Clover-brewed Aged Sumatra. You sit in the store and kill time on Twitter and Facebook. You have finished your Aged Sumatra! That was good! Can you get another Clover-brewed Aged Sumatra at the “refill” price?

 

Good luck!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Answers:

  1. Yes
  2. No. Because you’re trying to order something other than a iced coffee, hot tea, iced tea, or hot brewed coffee, there is no refill price available.
  3. No. The Starbucks Reserve Roastery and Tasting Room does not participate in the Starbucks Refill Policy. There is no “refill” perk ever at the Roastery.
  4. No. There is never a refill price available when you are using a drive thru.
  5. Yes.
  6. No. Because you’re trying to order something other than a iced coffee, hot tea, iced tea, or hot brewed coffee, there is no refill price available. An iced tea lemonade is not the same thing as just an iced tea.
  7. No. You did not follow the “same store visit” rule, so the lunchtime Pike Place Roast is not available at the “refill” price.
  8. Yes. When you stayed in the store, and you’re switching to anyone of these 4 basics – iced coffee, hot tea, iced tea, or hot brewed coffee – it should be offered at the refill price.
  9. Yes. Same reasoning as number 8.
  10. No. You cannot get a Clover-brewed Reserve coffee at a refill price. You could ask for a Venti Pike Place Roast (or whatever happens to be on the brew) at the “refill” price.