Kanu what?

I have lucked into a life hack that helps mitigate the absurd price of a cup of coffee in Korea.

There is an instant coffee, called 'Kanu', in Korea. It is akin to the instant americano popularized by Starbucks in which they mix finely ground coffee in with the freeze-dried coffee. The name 'Kanu', in typical Korean style, is explained on the side of the box with a slogan. A nu kind of Kafe. Ka-nu. It is a very good instant coffee. But this is not the life hack.

I buy my Kanu at Home-plus in a box of 70 servings for ₩21,000. This is about 30 cents each. But this is not the life hack. This bulk box comes with a present of sorts- sometimes extra Kanu, sometimes a cup of some sort. This is not the life hack either.

Or it is. The baby blue cup that I got is, not the fact that it is free. When you go to Starbucks, or many other coffee shops, you get a ₩300 (or so) discount for using your own cup. This is not the life hack.

I walk into Starbucks, and order a coffee. I don't know the size of my cup, so the girl looks on the bottom where it says that the cup holds 350ml. I pay my discounted ₩3500 for a tall, and leave. Later, looking at the cup, I feel it looks a bit bigger than 350ml. Turns out it is almost 500ml, bigger even than the Grande for which I should pay ₩4200. This is the life hack.