And as this tweet says:
Gift cards are generally non taxable - they're not tangible personal property. The purchase is of the right to buy coffee at some later time - the card is merely documentation of the right. But when you're buying a card that has intrinsic value, even if only for bragging rights, it sounds taxable to me. I wonder if anyone at Starbucks even thought of this. Sigh. Marketing people will kill ya every time. ;-)