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When Starbucks Rewards made changes to their rewards program back in April, there was a lot of talk about how this was a big devaluation. As someone who frequents Starbucks quite a lot, I can say for sure that the statement is only partly true. I’ll outline in this post where the sweet spots lie and how you can maximize your for redemptions.
Starbucks Rewards Changes
Starbucks Rewards was largely criticized for the changes they made on the earning and redemption side. While they gutted redemption values in certain categories, there’s still a lot of value in the program, especially if your frequently visit Starbucks.
Earning Potential
Under the new structure, here’s how you earn points, which Starbucks calls Starbucks ‘Stars’.
- For every $1 you spend, you earn 2 Stars
- You earn bonus Stars each time there’s a targeted game or goal you have to meet
- Each month, you can earn 4 stars per $1 on double star days
Redemption Options
Under the previous iteration of the program, you could simply redeem for a free reward for anything from the menu after completing 12 purchases. Then Starbucks changed it whereby you could redeem 125 stars for anything on the menu.
Most recently, Starbucks has made changes to the redemption side and your options to redeem for food or drinks are based on a certain number of Stars in that product category.
Maximize your Earning
On the face of it, you may think that 2 Stars per dollar spent is not a very lucrative multiplier for earning stars. However, if you frequent Starbucks, then you can use a lot of promotions in order to kickstart your earning. Every couple of weeks, Starbucks sends promotions to members. In essence, these are like games where you get bonus points for making purchases. These are usually product specific, time specific or both. Once you receive a promotion, you need to sign up for it before you make a purchase. I’ve been able to earn hundreds of bonus stars by using some these promotions to my advantage.
150 stars for completing a challenge!
A few simple examples of how these promotions or ‘challenges’ work:
If you time your purchases to perfectly, you can really earn a lot of Stars very quickly.
My current Starbucks Rewards balance, after maximizing ‘challenges’
Starbucks Rewards Redemption Options
When Starbucks made changes to their program, they introduced a new structure for redemptions. They defined each product category and then outlined the number of stars you need in order redeem. The previous program was agnostic to the product category you were redeeming in. You could earn a lot of stars and then simply redeem them for an expensive sandwich or a Frappuccino. Here’s the new redemption structure. You can call it the Starbucks award chart.
| Product Category | Stars Needed for Redeeming |
| Extra Espresso Shot, Dairy Substitute or Syrup | 25 |
| Brewed Hot Coffee, Bakery Item or Hot Tea | 50 |
| Handcrafted Drink, Hot Breakfast or Parfait (Includes Breakfast Sandwich, Oatmeal or your favorite drink) | 150 |
| Lunch sandwich, protein box or salad | 200 |
| A bag of coffee, a signature cup or coffee accessories | 400 |
Sweet Spots
Here’s where you can really maximize the program. In the miles and points space, we often talk about a 1-1.5 cents per point value to be a decent redemption at a base level (Capital One points or Ultimate Rewards). When a loyalty program makes changes, there are always winners and losers.
By using Starbucks’ pricing data, I’ll demonstrate how you can stretch the value of your Starbucks Stars. Please note that these prices are based on data collected from Starbucks stores in California.
Also, please note that when it comes to redeeming for drinks, you’ll get a higher redemption value when you redeem for a Grande or a Venti beverage instead of the standard Tall beverage. Pricing data in the chart below is based on the price of a Grande beverage.
Redemption Values
| Drink/Food | Price | Stars | Value per Star |
| Ham & Cheese Croissant | 3.75 | 50 | 0.0750 |
| Almond Croissant | 3.25 | 50 | 0.0650 |
| Iced Lemon Loaf Cake | 2.95 | 50 | 0.0590 |
| Chocolate Croissant | 2.95 | 50 | 0.0590 |
| Double Chocolate Chunk Brownie | 2.75 | 50 | 0.0550 |
| Classic Coffee Cake | 2.75 | 50 | 0.0550 |
| Butter Croissant | 2.75 | 50 | 0.0550 |
| Brewed tea | 2.65 | 50 | 0.0530 |
| Brewed Coffee | 2.45 | 50 | 0.0490 |
| Chocolate Chip Cookie | 2.45 | 50 | 0.0490 |
| Confetti Sugar Cookie | 2.45 | 50 | 0.0490 |
| Dark Roast – Thanksgiving Blend (Whole Bean) | 14.95 | 400 | 0.0374 |
| Blonde Roast (Whole Bean) | 12.95 | 400 | 0.0324 |
| Starbucks Blonde Espresso Roast (Whole Bean) | 12.95 | 400 | 0.0324 |
| Pike Place Roast (Whole Bean) | 12.95 | 400 | 0.0324 |
| Nitro Cold Brew | 4.75 | 150 | 0.0317 |
| Mocha Frappuccino | 4.75 | 150 | 0.0317 |
| Java Chip Frappuccino | 4.75 | 150 | 0.0317 |
| Double Chocolate Chip Crème Frappuccino | 4.75 | 150 | 0.0317 |
| Pike Place Roast Verismo Pods | 11.95 | 400 | 0.0299 |
| Iced Chai Tea Latte | 4.45 | 150 | 0.0297 |
| Caffe Mocha | 4.45 | 150 | 0.0297 |
| Dragon Drink | 4.45 | 150 | 0.0297 |
| Sous Vide Egg Bites | 4.45 | 150 | 0.0297 |
| Spinach, Feta & Cage Free Egg White Wrap | 4.15 | 150 | 0.0277 |
| Iced Caffe Latte | 3.95 | 150 | 0.0263 |
| Capuccino | 3.95 | 150 | 0.0263 |
| Hearty Blueberry Oatmeal | 3.75 | 150 | 0.0250 |
| Cold Brew | 3.65 | 150 | 0.0243 |
| Hot Chocolate | 3.45 | 150 | 0.0230 |
| Classic Oatlmeal | 3.45 | 150 | 0.0230 |
| Iced Americano | 3.25 | 150 | 0.0217 |
| Iced Coffee | 2.95 | 150 | 0.0197 |
The Pundit’s Mantra
As seen in the examples above, you can really stretch the value of your Starbucks stars if you redeem them for brewed coffee/tea and most baked goods (croissants and cakes). In contrast, you’ll get a really poor redemption value if you redeem your Stars for Ice Coffee or a Frappuccino.
With the new pricing structure, it’s really expensive to redeem stars for blended drinks like Frappuccinos. However, redeeming Stars for baked goods, brewed coffee/tea and a few handcrafted drinks still provide very good value. Also, your redemption value will only get better if you order a Venti beverage instead of a Tall or a Grande.
How do you use your Starbucks Stars? What’s your favorite way of redeeming them? Let us know in the comments section.
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As of about January 2020, Starbucks Rewards changed the Ham & Cheese Croissant redemption pricing from 50 points to 150 points (at least here in Ky; I assume nationwide). Ugh! Sure they can change, update, increase, revamp, “enhance” the points list at any time, and they did just that here – and with no notice, as they can do that too. What a shock to find out at the register of this triple price increase to 150 points! I valued Starbucks Rewards points to include sales tax, so the Ham & Cheese Croissant was $3.75 plus tax = $3.98 or… Read more »
Mercato salads here in NorCal are $9.45 or 200 points, or .04725. If you have the Square Cash App, you may have a $1 off any coffee purchase as an available bonus. Use this to load your Starbucks cards for additional value
Thanks for your comment. Yes, there are multiple other ways to get a better deal. Thanks for sharing how you do it! For the purpose of this post though, I primarily focused on maximizing the loyalty program itself.