Long time Starbies girlie over here! I am a ho for my Starbucks matcha, and I knowww it’s not “real” matcha and that it is so bad for you (so much sugar) but it is so yummyyyyy~~~~ and it really helps me get through the days lol! Besides me, TaiTai also loves Starbies!! He gets sooo excited to go on Starbucks runs! 🙂

For fellow Starbucks lovers, here is my exact Starbucks order, my very particular Starbucks process, and some of my secret Starbucks tips!

How To Get The “Original” Starbucks Matcha Taste:

Starbucks changed the matcha formula just this year and I was depressed because it tasted so bad lmao. I searched online how to get it to taste the same and surprisingly no one knew! **BREAKING NEWS** Idk if I am the first to share this on the interwebs but there IS a way to make the new matcha taste like the old one!! I found out by happenstance when the Starbucks store I had went to ran out of classic sweetener and so I subbed for vanilla syrup. Hallelujah, it tastes the just like the liquid green gold I remember. That was a horrible two months of drinking yucky Starbucks matcha but never again!

My Exact Starbucks Order:

My order used to be not that complicated, but due to all of the new Starbucks changes (they changed owners in 2024) I now have one of those extra long Starbucks orders that people make fun of:

• Venti
• Iced Matcha Latte
• No Ice
• Soy Milk
• Shaken Not Blended
• And sub the classic sweetener for vanilla syrup

The key points here are the soy milk (it MUST be soy milk, do NOT get any other milk, it changes the taste entirely) and the vanilla syrup! And while I hate most of the new Starbucks changes, the one good one is now they no longer charge for alternative milks!!

Optional: This year they started blending their matcha lattes which leaves a lot of foam that I don’t like so if I am ordering in person then I ask for it shaken instead of blended (you can’t specify this part on the app).

Mobile Order Hack

Fun fact #1: MP used to be a Starbucks barista! Insider tip: He told me that mobile orders actually go to the top of the “to make” list for baristas so mobile ordering in advance is the fastest way to get your drink! It also helps to better guarantee your drink is made the way you want because you can enter it exactly in the app (whereas in person, a lot of times they forget to write things down or they hear incorrectly).

Fun fact #2: MP is actually the one who introduced me to the Starbucks matcha latte! When we were dating, he tried to woo me with free drinks lmao and he would ask me what I liked. I said I didn’t really have Starbucks that much and I only knew the green tea frapuccino, so he suggested the green tea latte and I loved it!!

How Often I Order:

For many years, I prided myself on not being addicted to caffeine – I don’t drink coffee and I purposely didn’t drink matcha that often to not become dependent on it (it was more of an occasional treat or I expensed it at work just for the heck of it). And I don’t know when it happened (my guess is a couple of years ago when I worked a job where the executive assistant ordered us Starbucks every day lol which was so nice) but I’ve unfortunately become 100% dependent on it. It really is a drug >.< I often have headaches, and I don’t know if its from work or matcha withdrawals, but what I do know is a matcha always makes me feel immediately better lol!

With that said, nowadays (given I am fully dependent on it but I still try to limit myself because of the sugar) I order a large matcha drink (usually Starbucks) about twice a week but I don’t drink the whole drink at once — I usually drink just 1/3 or 1/2. And I aim to not drink it at least one day throughout the workweek. Besides that, I try to limit myself to only weekdays when I’m working, but sometimes I just can’t take it lol and I’ll give in on the weekends too.

No Ice:

Since I don’t drink my whole drink at once, I ask for no ice so the drink doesn’t get diluted. Doing this also gives you more drink! TBH for $6-$7 a drink I ain’t about to pay for the ice too~

Freeze Drinks:

I often stick a matcha in the freezer if I happen to have multiple or I don’t plan on drinking it the next day. I just take it out the day before I plan to drink it to thaw and it’s fine!

Starbucks Stars:

Besides mobile ordering, I highly recommend getting the Starbucks app if you are a frequent Starbucks drinker because it gives you Starbucks Stars (Starbucks loyalty points) to redeem free items! I can’t believe I spent so many years not using the app, especially when I used to travel for work and I would expense Starbucks!

You also get double the stars if you load a Starbucks gift card in advance instead of paying directly with your credit card per drink. I know some people don’t like Starbucks essentially being a bank in the sense that you deposit money into it, but I drink Starbucks so often so I am fine with it.

I used to use the stars to get my dad a free bakery item (their pumpkin loaf is so good!) back when it used to be only 25 points, but they’ve since changed the redemptions so now the best option is just to redeem a free drink when you get 200 stars.

Hack: When you redeem a free drink using stars, they don’t charge for any additional customizations. This might be outing me lol, but sometimes I will add EXTRA matcha powder using the app (standard is 4 scoops and I’ll up it to 6 scoops) so I can just add my own soy milk at home to have mooooooore matcha latte looool 😀

Starbucks Deals / Coupons

Another reason to get the Starbucks app is because sometimes they have deals. There was like a 3-month period where they were going CRAZY with the deals, like every single week there were multiple deals. Since then, it’s been pretty much radio silent. But when they do have deals, I take them! Whether it’s 50% off drinks, BOGO, buy $25 in gift cards get $5 bonus gift card, or double/triple star days~

Starbucks Partnerships

Starbucks released a not very well known Starbucks Chase credit card for a veryyy short amount of time and I so so so regret not getting it because I would be freakin’ RICH in Starbucks stars. Anyways, since that’s no longer an option, here are some ways you can maximize your Starbucks points (a lot of them I found out about recently!):

• You can link your Starbucks account to your Delta account to earn Delta Sky Miles (in addition to Starbucks Stars) when you load Starbucks gift cards
• You can also link your Marriott account to your Starbucks to earn Marriott Bonvoy Points (in addition to Starbucks Stars AND in addition to Delta Sky miles!)
• Lastly, you can opt to instead earn United miles by purchasing Starbucks gift cards through the United Mileage app

Dang, who knew I had so much to say about Starbucks lol. As you can see, I really love my matcha latte lmao. I would probably take the time to go through this post and chop it down to make it more concise, but it’s already late and I’m tired so here is all of my Starbucks rambling in its full glory! Let me know if you have any Starbucks tips!!!

Xo,
Em

P.S. MP is a teacher and I always tell him during teacher appreciation week to remind the students that we love Starbucks gift cards, haha. We usually get only like $50 in total a year though haha (parents be cheap) but it at least gets me a month or so of Starbies ^-^