The Free Coffee Deal That Had McDonald's Customers Hooked (Until It Vanished)

One of the most fun aspects of ordering at McDonald's is the potential for hacking the menu. There's a trick for nearly everything, from getting more sauce with your McNuggets to upgrading your Filet-O-Fish for less. There's even ways to hack drink orders — the best of which used to be the free coffee and tea refills.

Up until 2006, McDonald's locations had filter coffee machines which customers could use to self-serve refills for coffee and tea. However, McDonald's eventually made the switch to Rainbow Alliance full bean coffee, which is freshly ground for each order. This meant customers would no longer be able to refill hot drinks on their own accord.

McDonald's replaced the free coffee and tea refills with a loyalty card. Each hot drink now comes with a loyalty sticker; upon collecting six, customers can get a regular hot drink for free. However, this deal is still a far cry from free coffee and tea refills, which for years ranked pretty high on the list of the best ordering hacks at McDonald's.

The removal of hot drink machines axed the possibility for coffee and tea refills, but at least self-serve soda machines remained at McDonald's for the time being. However, in May 2024, McDonald's announced that it would begin slowly removing self-serve drink machines from its locations. The company's goal is to completely eliminate all self-serve drink machines by 2032.

What this means is that in the near future, free drink refills of all kinds might disappear entirely from McDonald's. According to McDonald's corporate chef Mike Haracz, free refills are being nixed due to the potential health risks of refilling used cups. However, it is also likely due to the customer's ability to potentially abuse the refill system by asking for multiple cups, then filling them all up multiple times for free.

As of right now, free refills for cold drinks are still possible at McDonald's, but it depends on the location. Locations that still have self-serve machines may allow customers to get free refills. Others may choose to charge for refills — this is ultimately up to the individual franchisees right now.