How To Get A Bonus Hot Tea At Starbucks Every Time You Order

Tea lovers, rejoice, because there is a Starbucks hack just for you. It's super easy to get a free hot tea every time you order one. Okay, it's not exactly free since you will have to pay for an initial purchase, but this trick will get you double your money's worth every time. Consider it a bonus tea to take home with you. You just need to know how to place your order the right way in order to take advantage of this cost-cutting method.

The reason this hack works is because Starbucks makes its hot tea using two tea bags — for sizes grande and venti. The idea is to simply order your hot tea made with only one of the sachets and ask for the second one to go. You likely won't notice much difference in flavor or strength, and you'll have a whole other tea to enjoy later. When you go to place your order, just say "one in, one out," and the cashier will understand the request. The barista will make your drink steeped with only one tea bag, and hand you the second one to do with as you please.

Starbucks standard drinks come in four sizes — the short (eight ounce) and tall (12 ounce) are made with only one tea bag by default and are therefore not eligible for the bonus. The grande (16 ounce) and venti (20 ounce) sizes are made with two sachets each and are what you'll want to order to make this work.

There's another way to utilize this ordering hack to get even more free tea. One caveat is that you will have to use your registered Starbucks card or the company's app whenever you order. The key is that regardless of what kind of drink you buy, you can then get free refills of brewed coffee (including hot, iced, or cold brew) or tea (both hot and iced). Each hot tea refill comes with two new bags, not just hot water.

What's great about free refills is that your first beverage can be anything you like. Whether your original purchase is for a cool mango dragonfruit refresher or a pumpkin spice hot chocolate, once you're done with it, you're entitled to a refill of tea or coffee free of charge. When you place your refill order for tea, go ahead and ask for that second sachet to-go because this time it really is free. Our favorite part of this is that you can keep getting these complimentary refills for your entire visit — which ends as soon as you leave the store. Shopping at a Target location with a Starbucks inside? You can keep going back for refills on tea for the entire time you're shopping. If you get even just a couple refills of hot tea and use the "one in, one out" hack you'll end up with a pocket full of bonus tea bags by the time you're ready to check out.

Starbucks offers a number of teas made by Teavana to choose from, including green, black, and herbal. Classic green tea goes by the lofty name of Emperor's Clouds & Mist and contains 16 milligrams of caffeine — whereas the jade citrus mint brewed green tea has 40 milligrams. It's made with lemon verbena, lemongrass, and spearmint. For black tea you'll have a choice from Royal English breakfast tea, Earl Grey with its strong bergamot flavor, or masala-spiced chai. All three of the black teas contain 40 milligrams of caffeine. You can also have a cuppa that's caffeine-free by opting for herbal Peach Tranquility made with candied pineapple, chamomile, lemon verbena, and rose hips, or Mint Majesty, which is a mint blend. These last two are what's used to make Starbucks' soothing medicine ball tea, listed on the menu as honey citrus mint tea.

To make use of your bonus tea bags at home, it helps to know that Starbucks brews its teas with filtered water at a temperature of 200 degrees Fahrenheit. It's also good to be aware of the different times for optimal steeping. The herbal and black teas should steep for four to five minutes — while the green teas are best steeped for two to three minutes. If left to steep for too long, tea can become bitter. If you prefer yours stronger, just grab a bag from your bonus stash and steep with two for the suggested length of time.