Starbucks Lawsuit: Lattes Are Underfilled, Cheating Customers Out Of Precious Coffee

By MARC TORRENCE (Patch National Staff)

Starbucks could be in a latte trouble.

A lawsuit filed in California by two Starbucks regulars says that the coffee giant underfills its lattes, cheating hard-working, paying customers out of precious coffee while saving the huge company millions of dollars.

Starbucks’ latte cups aren’t filled to the top, the lawsuit says, and their recipes by design don’t hit the advertised ounces for their three sizes — 12 ounces for a tall, 16 ounces for a grande and 20 ounces for a venti.

This strategy has saved Starbucks “countless millions of dollars” and the company “was unjustly enriched by taking payment for more product than it delivers,” according to the lawsuit.

A Starbucks spokesperson, in an emailed statement to Patch, said the claims were bunk.

“Starbucks cheats purchasers by providing less fluid ounces in their Lattes than represented,” the lawsuit says. “In fact, Starbucks Lattes are approximately 25% underfilled.”

Cue the horror music.

Siera Strumlauf of San Francisco and Benjamin Robles of Carlsbad filed the lawsuit Wednesday in the Northern District Court of California on behalf of (deep breath), “purchasers of Starbucks Caffè Lattes, Flavored Lattes, Pumpkin Spice Lattes, Egg Nog Lattes, Skinny Lattes, Skinny Flavored Lattes, Vanilla Lattes, and Skinny Vanilla Lattes.”

They allege that Starbucks’ lattes violate California’s consumer laws and constitute “negligent misrepresentation and fraud.”

The smoking gun, the suit says: Starbucks’ recipe and the deceitful tools that carry them out.

Lattes, for the uninitiated, are a standard drink in the coffee world, consisting of espresso and steamed milk usually topped off with foam.

Starbucks’ milk pitchers, the lawsuit says, are marked with lines for each cup size so baristas know how much to fill it up. But the lines, according to the suit, are too short.

For a grande latte, which Strumlauf says she orders once or twice a week, the “fill-to” line on the milk pitcher represents fewer than 12 ounces, the suit says. Then two one-ounce shots of espresso are added, according to the suit. The math just doesn't add up.

It gets worse.

Even if enough of the latte was made, the cups wouldn’t be able to contain all of the delicious drink, the lawsuit says, because the cups for the three sizes are made to hold exactly the amount of drink advertised.

“Moreover, Starbucks refuses to fill any hot beverage up to the brim of the cup,” the lawsuit says. “Thus, under no circumstances will Starbucks ever serve a Grande Latte that actually meets the fluid ounces represented on the menu.”

But what about the foam, you, a seasoned coffee drinker, may ask?

“The milk foam added to the top of Starbucks Lattes does not count toward the volume of its beverages,” the suit says. “In the food science community, as well as in the weights and measures community, foam is not measured on a volumetric basis. Rather, it is measured by mass.”

Starbucks didn’t say much when reached by Patch for comment but seemed to flatly deny the claims made.

“We are aware of the plaintiffs' claims, which we fully believe to be without merit,” a spokesperson said in an email to Patch. “We are proud to serve our customers high-quality, handcrafted and customized beverages, and we inform customers of the likelihood of variations.”

You can read the whole lawsuit below.

Patch's Tim Darnell contributed to this report.

Starbucks Latte Lawsuit