Bob CollinsHow much ice is too much ice in a Starbucks iced beverage?
It’ll be up to a court to decide. Someone is suing the chain because its drinks are almost half ice.
“Our customers understand and expect that ice is an essential component of any ‘iced’ beverage. If a customer is not satisfied with their beverage preparation, we will gladly remake it,” Starbucks spokesperson Jamie Riley tells CBS.
Our love of coffee obscures other facts. Coffee, for example, is more than half water. Where will this madness end?
“A Starbucks customer who orders a “venti” cold drink receives only 14 fluid ounces of that drink — just over half the advertised amount, and just over half the amount for which they are paying,” Courthouse News Service’s court filing citation says. “In the iced coffee example, a Starbucks customer who orders and pays for a venti iced coffee, expecting to receive 24 fluid ounces of iced coffee based on Starbucks’ advertisement and marketing, will instead receive only about 14 fluid ounces of iced coffee.”
The class-action suit, seeking $5 million, was filed last week in Illinois.
It’ll also pit hot drinks against cold drinks. The suit claim Starbucks charges more for cold drinks even though the cold-drink customers get less.
In March, another suit claimed Starbucks was underfilling its lattes.
“Starbucks Lattes are made from a standardized recipe, which Starbucks instituted in 2009 to save on the cost of milk — one of its most expensive ingredients.”
The suit argues that the “fill to” lines etched on the pitchers used by baristas to heat milk result in drinks that don’t measure up to the tall (12 ounce), grande (16 ounce), and venti (20 ounce) sizes listed on the menu.
“By underfilling its lattes, thereby shortchanging its customers, Starbucks has saved countless millions of dollars in the cost of goods sold and was unjustly enriched by taking payment for more product than it delivers,” the suit reads.
