On more than one occasion at different Starbucks locations, I’ve gotten Starbucks’ new Vanilla Blonde concoction free with my free-coffee tumbler. While this drink is just a blonde roast with vanilla syrup, there is normally an additional cost for the syrup. But to the surprise of most baristas, the cost of Vanilla Blonde is covered by the free-coffee-tumbler code.

Wanting to maximize the deal, I was thinking of adding even more flavored shots and pay for them to earn Starbucks Rewards stars on the cheap. So this morning, I dirtied my Vanilla Blonde by infusing golden caramel. Cost of this “Dirty Blonde?” Free.

Hmmm, is this a relatively cheap way of earning Starbucks Rewards stars? With the free-brewed-coffee-in-January tumbler, you get plain coffee for free (well, that’s not completely true since the newly promoted Vanilla Blonde is covered as a freebie). How about paying for flavored syrup shots added to your free coffee? What’s the cost of a syrup shot? A quarter, 50 cents? Not a bad price to pay to earn a rewards star.

I wonder how a Vanilla Blonde with caramel would taste…

So you picked up your free-brewed-coffee-for-January tumbler from Starbucks right? Heck, I’m sure you still can find some around. Anyways, Starbucks is promoting the Vanilla Blonde combination to start off 2013. This is just the blonde roast tinted with vanilla syrup. Normally, you pay for any shots of flavoring, but you may want to check if your free coffee tumbler qualifies for the Vanilla Blonde.

Some stores are sampling the Vanilla Blonde, and if you try it, you might get a coupon for a free Vanilla Blonde drink. Nice! While you’re in the store, don’t forget to pick up your free episode of Gravity Falls.