Greener Beans

I am here today to let you all know that University has not allowed me to escape unscathed (Escape? Who am I kidding...definitely still stuck there lol). No, I have fallen into the world of coffee. But see, I have a dilemma, which is that I don't completely like coffee. Oh, I like its effects, don't get me wrong. That stuff is liquid gold for an early morning class or wrangling kindergarteners. But the coffee flavour? Not so much. I can handle it if it's mild, but not just straight up coffee.

Enter, the latte. And Starbucks. You see, a latte still has the effects of coffee, without tasting like I'm drinking tar. 

Problem is.....that's a $5 commitment. One would think that my reasonable (ahem) self would consider this ludicrous, but no...sometimes survival comes at a price (as anyone who has had to PAY for school knows). 

Now, don't go freaking out and think I have abandoned my beloved tea, because that could never happen. My tea count per day has not changed (a LOT), this is simply an addition. Plus, Starbucks has tea too ;) But the point is that sometimes girlfriend's gotta have some serious caffeine and Starbucks kindly assists with that.

So what do you do about such a situation when you want to be kind to the planet and your bank account? Well, allow me.

You buy one of these!! Starbucks has started making these reusable cups and they sell them for...wait for it...$1. That's ONE DOLLAR. Yep. Annnnnnnnnd... when you use a reusable cup at Starbucks, you save 10 cents, which means the cup pays for itself in 10 visits (or 10 classes, depending on how you prefer to count). Actually, if we are really getting precise, they take the discount before tax so you really save more like 15 cents when they round it to the 5 (because they finally got rid of the penny), which would be 6 or 7 visits. But we aren't going to get that precise, because school just ended and there are just some things you need to recover from in life. So really, the money savings alone is a bonus if you ask me. 

On top of saving some cash...can we just all take a minute to think about how many cups AREN'T going in the garbage when you reuse your cup? I don't know how many other people have a Starbucks on their campus, but we have one glorious Starbucks and about 8 Timmies, among other coffee shops, and that is a LOT of disposable cups. In fact, at this time of the year (exam time) I would bet that the garbage cans are 90% full of just coffee cups. So I think a serious argument could be made for the benefits of reusing a cup. I mean, Americans alone throw away 25 billion styrofoam cups each year (source).

In case you need some other reasons, here you go: 

1. This cup is way more sturdy than the regular paper/plastic cups.

2. It looks just the same so you can still feel classy with your Sbux like all the cool kids. 

3. It's super light so it's no trouble to throw it in my bag in the morning on the way to class. 

4. This one is my favourite discovery. The cup is only in one size, and when you order a tall, the baristas tend to fill it up anyways giving you more bang (code for caffeine) for your buck. It's pretty much the most awesome thing ever. 

Now, I am sure you might be wondering why I didn't have a reusable travel mug before now. I did. But I broke it. So I was in line one day and and saw this and thought, what the heck, why not? And I realized this is something anyone, and I mean anyone, could do. Talk about a simple switch.