If you are addicted to coffee or tea then you probably understand that it can be quite an expensive habit to maintain even though it only costs a few pence to prepare at home. If you spend £2.25 on a single Tall Starbucks Latte each working day for one year, you will have spent over £750 on coffee. This is not a joke. For that amount, you can get a brand new iPhone 6S or 8 years of Netflix subscriptions.
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That’s a lot of money to spend on coffee. However, you can use several sneaky methods to get a free daily fix of caffeine and I have provided what I believe to be the most comprehensive guide to grabbing free brews in existence. Trust me, the site is called Latte Lindsay for a reason.
Completely Free Coffee and Tea
You should always keep a close watch on our food and drink page and our free stuff page for additional short-lived freebie coffees and teas. Starbucks gives out free beverages regularly but such offers only last for one day, so keep on checking.
Straightforward Free Offers from Cafes
Waitrose
If you want to get a completely free cup of tea or coffee every day without having to buy anything, you should consider signing up for a free MyWaitrose card. However, there are several “catches” even though they are not so bad:
After picking up your free drink, you are not allowed to simply walk out with it but rather you should take it to a till and then hand over the MyWaitrose card.
You cannot receive a free drink and sit in a Waitrose café with it. If you do not wish to pay for it, you have to take it to go.
That is it. This is simply the most generous free hot drink programme available and you are very lucky if you study, work, or live close to a Waitrose.
Booths
If you don’t live, work, or study near a Waitrose but live in North West England, then you can enjoy the same deal from Booths, which is the regional supermarket. With a Booths Card, you can receive a free coffee or tea every day without having to make a purchase.
Leekes
At the Welsh/Midlands homeware store Privilege card members receive a free coffee or tea Mondays to Fridays.
John Lewis
In the past, when you signed up for a My John Lewis card you would receive a voucher for 6 months free hot drinks and cake from a John Lewis café to all. However, the policy changed and the vouchers are no longer sent out to everyone but many people still get them via post meaning that it is still worth it to sign up.
O2 Priority Moments
You can often get a free drink from Caffe Nero via O2 Priority Moments. Currently, every Tuesday you can receive a freebie in store and you aren’t even required to be on O2 to get the app. Find out how to get it one any network here.
Benugo (London and Birmingham Only)
Receive a free coffee from Benugo after signing up to its newsletter and another free one on your birthday.
PAUL (Oxford, Birmingham, and London Only)
Get your free coffee and croissant once you get your La Carte Noir loyalty card then register it online.
Harris + Hoole (The South East and London Only)
Download your Harris + Hoole loyalty app and receive your free coffee right away.
Donating Blood
Everybody that donates blood receives a free hot drink as well as a biscuit in addition to the bonus of potentially saving somebody’s life. Find out more about blood donation here.
Whittards
Whittards, the famous Chelsea tea shop is always giving out free samples of coffee, teas, and hot chocolate to people in shops. This could also be a great option if you are only after a shot glass of builders’.
Battle of Loyalty Schemes
Loyalty schemes might look great since they offer you freebies and helps companies ensure that you never fail to come back for more. However, some loyalty schemes can be quite stingy even requiring you to first buy up to 15 cups of coffee before receiving anything in return. I have been putting the loyalty schemes to the test to find out what is really worth signing to.
Caffe Nero has a stamp card you can get in-store whereby 9 stamps (or 9 drinks) is equal to 1 free hot drink, which is not bad at all.
Starbucks has the most challenging loyalty scheme to get a free drink out of. You first have to sign up for the My Starbucks Rewards Card, which is not a loyalty card but rather a payment card that you have to top up and use to pay for your orders. Once you do this and top up at least £5, you will receive a star for each transaction you make at Starbucks via the scheme. You will only get your free cup of coffee after making 15 purchases. This is definitely not good.
Fast Food Restaurants
The coffee loyalty scheme does not involve cafes exclusively since fast-food restaurants also do have generous freebie offers.
Every hot drink cup that comes from McDonald’s has a card with a small coffee bean sticker. Once you peel off stickers from 6 cups and put them all on a single card, you will receive a free drink.
Get your Subway Subcard and earn 10 points for every pound that you spend, and you only require 100 points to get your free hot drink.
The KFC loyalty app and card awards a stamp each time you spend more than £3, and you just require 3 stamps to get your free hot drink. You will receive a free stamp once you register the card online, which means that it is just 2.
If you are a Greggs customer, you will receive a free coffee after buying 7 coffees and scanning the Greggs Rewards app each time.
Homemade brew
If that sounds like hard work to score a free cup of coffee, you can always make a brew at home by using coffee bags or a nice instant coffee. I personally love making my own coffee in my coffee machine, especially now that you can buy so many different types. You can even pimp your homemade brew with some syrup or with a fancy travel mug for heading to work.
