Free Starbucks coffee: Woman brings 7 containers to NEA's 'bring your own tumbler' event

Talk about kiasu.

At The Waste(less) Cafe Exhibition at Northpoint City this weekend, you can get a free Starbucks coffee if you bring your own tumbler.

One woman showed up with several different kinds of of beverage containers in her plastic bag on Sunday (March 12).

"This auntie brought multiple cups, bottles and tumblers for the coffee," said Stomp contributor C, who shared photos of the incident.

"Even the plastic bottles the baristas told her were not allowed because it was single-use waste and not a reusable tumbler," said the Stomp contributor.

After all, The Waste(less) Cafe Exhibition is part of a movement called Say YES to Waste Less by the National Environment Agency (NEA) to encourage people to adopt a sustainable lifestyle by reducing waste, particularly disposables and food wastage.

Sharing photos of the long queue for the free coffee in the Yishun mall the day before, the Stomp contributor C said: "I queued for around 20 minutes, starting at around noon.

"But the queue moved fast and it didn’t feel like a long wait because the staff were very efficient. One barista took the order, another measured and sorted out the portions accordingly, and another barista does the final pour into the tumblers.

"Good job to the staff for handling the queue well and working tirelessly despite the high volume of orders.

"I enjoyed my coffee and find this to be a meaningful initiative."

Started last month, The Waste(less) Cafe Exhibition was previously held at Paya Lebar Quarter and Expo. Today is the last day of the exhibition, which ends at 7pm.

You are supposed to be limited to 12oz of coffee and one redemption at a time.

NEA added: "We reserve the right to refuse service at our discretion, not limited to a presented unwashed or unsanitary reusable tumbler."

Which was why the auntie's plastic bottles were rejected.

Surprisingly, the Stomp contributor said the barista filled up the rest of the woman's containers.

"I asked the barista, 'One person can take so many at one time?'" said the Stomp contributor.

"She replied, 'Can, you can fill as many bottles as you have' or something."

The Stomp contributor said of the auntie: "I just found it ridiculous because did you need to be so kiasu? She was not even shy about it. She just brandished everything out from her plastic bag."

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This article was first published in Stomp. Permission required for reproduction.