For Cheaper Starbucks Lattes, Use A Genius Ordering Hack

In this economy, many of us are looking for ways to get through life a little bit cheaper, whether it's by using money-saving hacks at grocery stores like ALDI or trying to use the Starbucks app to get cheaper coffee. While the latter may sound like a difficult task (if not downright impossible), it's actually not as out there as you might think; while on the app, selecting an espresso and customizing it to include your ideal milk or creamer, syrup, cold foam, and flavorings will provide you with the flavors from your standard Starbucks latte at a far lower cost.

This trick has been making the rounds online for some time now and is ideal for a Starbucks lover on a budget. While prices may vary depending on when and where you're visiting Starbucks, ordering a grande iced espresso with additional milk, syrup, and foam costs $3.25, while an iced latte with the same add-ons costs $5.25. This means that you can save $2.00 by switching your order over to an espresso. While that might not sound like much to some, additional taxes and fees can build up fast on a Starbucks order — especially if you're using the Starbucks app's new delivery feature.

If getting an iced latte for over a dollar less sounds too good to be true, it's because it partially is. Purchasing an iced espresso, even with the same fixings you get in your latte, won't give you the exact same drink as you would when purchasing a proper latte. Starbucks baristas have warned online that this method will produce a far stronger espresso taste than your typical latte, a change that many Starbucks fans won't enjoy.

The reason for this change in taste is that the amount of milk a barista can add to a 16-ounce grande espresso is capped at 4 ounces, making the coffee-to-cream ratio sit at roughly 3:1. Alternatively, Starbucks is known to put even more milk in its lattes and cappuccinos (which are vastly different things, by the way) than the original version of the drink. A grande-sized latte from Starbucks typically has 14 ounces of milk compared to 2 ounces of espresso, with the quantity of milk only decreasing if other add-ons are ordered. This results in a coffee-to-cream ratio of around 1:7 and a vastly different taste than what you'd get using the "hacked" latte from the chain. So, if you want a cheaper, much stronger version of your go-to Starbucks drink, this is the method for you.