Starbucks Refreshes Rewards, Adds New Chai Customization

Starbucks announced changes to its rewards program on March 10, adding new status levels and perks, according to a company press release.

The company introduced Green, Gold and Reserve status levels, which it said “are designed with different members in mind.” A member’s status level determines how fast someone earns Stars, with members at the highest Reserve level earning the fastest. Redemption options will be capped at a dollar amount, such as $6 for the 100 Star tier (brewed coffee or bakery items) and $10 at the 200 Star tier (handcrafted drinks and hot breakfast items).

Benefits for loyalty members of all levels include early access to new items, personalized offers and games; bonus Stars with qualifying Starbucks Card reloads of more than $30; double stars when using a personal cup; and free mod Mondays, which gives customers one free customization once a month.

Starbucks also introduced its new premium chai blend, created to offer customers more ways to customize their drinks.

The premium chai recipe includes two grams of honey and is “sweetened with classic syrup, allowing the spice notes of cardamom, cinnamon and ginger to shine through while giving customers the opportunity to adjust the sweetness,” Starbucks said.

Both sweetness and spice levels are adjustable by adding or removing pumps of classic syrup to increase or decrease sweetness or adding or removing pumps of chai to adjust spice intensity. Customers can also swap classic syrup for other flavors.

The spring menu will also feature new ways to enjoy chai, including the Iced Lavender Cream Chai.

Meanwhile, Dunkin’ launched Dunkin’ Zero, a zero-sugar energy drink “made for the in-between moments of the day, when coffee has done its job but the day is far from over,” the company said in a press release.

Available in six fruit-forward flavors, Dunkin’ Zero is 20 calories for a medium size with zero grams of sugar. The flavors are:

• Blackberry tangerine
• Tropical mango
• Juicy peach
• Glamberry (blackberry tangerine + juicy peach)
• Sunzest (tropical mango + juicy peach)
• Blushpop (blackberry tangerine + tropical mango)

To celebrate the launch, Dunkin’ Rewards members can get $3 medium Dunkin’ Zero drinks after 1 p.m. until March 18.

The company also declared banana as the flavor of the season at Dunkin’, with its new banana syrup and banana cold foam. The lineup includes:

• Banana Puddin’ Cloud Latte: Espresso with whole milk and banana flavor, finished with banana cold foam.
• Banana Daydream Refresher: A strawberry dragonfruit, mango pineapple or berry acai Refresher blended with oat milk and topped with banana cold foam.
• Bananarama Matcha: Matcha latte made with whole milk, matcha and banana flavor.

Additionally, Dutch Bros rolled out a line of three childhood inspired drinks, now available at all Dutch Bros locations while supplies last.

The drinks are:

• The brown butter chocolate chip is a brown butter chocolate chip drink swirled with a drizzle of brown butter chocolate chip sauce topped with brown butter chocolate chip Soft Top with chocolate crunch pieces.
• The fruit punch with sour candy straw features orange, cherry and pineapple served with an epic sour candy straw, while supplies last. Dutch Bros said the flavor is best enjoyed as an iced or blended Rebel energy drink or a lemonade.
• The Kool Blue includes watermelon and blue raspberry topped with mango poppin' boba.