My sleeping hours have been a bit off this week so my morning routine of brewing a cup of coffee before I head out the door have fallen by the way side. However, I’m one of those people who can’t start the day off right without having good cup of coffee. Fortunately for me, there are a number of places on my way to work that sell a good cup of coffee. But, with all three places that I’ve visited lately, I’ve noticed that the coffee prices have creeped up. I used to spend $1.50 on average for a cup of coffee. That price later creeped up to $1.75 and this week I noticed that the prices are up to $2.00 for a medium (12 oz) coffee. That is just crazy.

At that price, I’m thinking I might just bite the bullet and up the ante and order a latte instead. Thankfully, McDonalds brews a good cup of coffee and it doesn’t cost $2.00 (although I haven’t been there in awhile, perhaps it has changed as well). Tim Horton’s still has their medium coffee at around $1.50 (but their coffee isn’t nearly as good if you ask me). *sigh* The days of a good, inexpensive coffee first thing in the morning seem to be a thing of the past. I know this means that I will just have to brew my own (I buy good beans and grind them that morning so it’s generally better (and cheaper) than any cup of coffee that I could buy outside.

But today I just found out that the world of coffee, just got a little more interesting. Starbucks launched their new Starbucks Refreshers drinks. (They had a promotion today where they were giving them out for free from 1-3pm).

Available in Cool Lime and Very Berry Hibiscus flavours, they taste similar to an iced tea but are made with green coffee bean extract. The idea is that the coffee beans have had their caffeine extracted from them before they are roasted which give you the benefit of the energy from caffeine without the coffee flavour that is a result of roasting the beans. Unfortunately, the nutrition information for the Starbucks Refreshers drinks isn’t out yet so I can’t compare the caffeine content to a regular cup of coffee or energy drinks such as Red Bull from their official information. But from other sources, it looks like the amount of vitamin C from the ‘fruit juice’ is negligible and the amount of caffeine is only 15mg compared to 260mg in a 12 oz. coffee.

Hardly a pick me up. Instead drinking something people, consider taking a quick break, going for a walk, reading a book, taking a power nap or meditating for 15 minutes. I have a feeling you’ll feel a lot more refreshed and rejuvenated compared to anything that you might drink. And if you feel like you really need something, try drinking water first. It’s refreshing, it’s readily available and it’s free!

The line up at Starbucks

Plus, who wants to wait in line at Starbucks for 30 minutes to get a free drink (well, mind you it’s free so that kind of makes it worth it). But I’d rather choose to go for a walk and take a breather rather than waiting around in line (free drink or not) any day.