ICYMI: Starbucks Sued Because Iced Coffee Has Ice In It

By MARC TORRENCE (Patch National Staff)

BEDFORD, MA - The following would seem to be obvious about a Starbucks iced coffee, currently at the center of a $5M lawsuit:

• It has ice.
• It has coffee.
• Without the ice, it'd just be coffee.

A Chicago woman is fine with all that, but she's not fine with how much coffee she's been getting from Starbucks, so she's protesting the American way: She's suing for 5 million bucks.

That woman, Stacy Pincus, filed a class-action lawsuit in federal court over the weekend contending iced coffees contain fewer fluid ounces of actual coffee than advertised on menus and online — because the ice takes up extra cup space.

Complete with photo evidence and even a brief science lesson, the lawsuit demands the $5 million on behalf of iced coffee drinkers everywhere to compensate them for the iced coffee they've they've missed out on because their iced coffee, in fact, had ice in it.

Pincus "relied on Starbucks’ misrepresentations of material fact regarding the true amount of fluid ounces contained in the Cold Drinks," the suit proclaims. She "would not have paid as much, if anything, for the Cold Drinks had she known that it contained less, and in many cases, nearly half as many, fluid ounces than claimed by Starbucks."

Here's a quick rundown of the suit's claims:

• Starbucks advertises its drink sizes in terms of fluid ounces. A tall is 12, grande is 16 and venti 24.

• These sizes are on their menus and websites.
  

• When you order an iced coffee, though, Starbucks employees do the following: They fill the cup about halfway full of coffee — something less than 12, 16 or 24 ounces — and then add ice.

"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," the suit says, ignoring that the rest of the drink contains the other key ingredient.

Starbucks, you may recall, was sued in March for allegedly under-filling lattes. That suit claimed that latte cups were the advertised size, but employees left a little room on top for foam (and to keep scalding coffee from overflowing), thus customers lost out on an ounce or two.

Those claims would seem to have slightly more merit than this one, which complains about a drink ingredient being in the drink.

Anyone who has ever been served a drink knows that ice can take up precious cup space where the fluid may be. This is why some of us order light ice — or no ice at all.

Because we haven't descended far enough into madness, the suit continues with a trip to seventh-grade science class that boils down to this scientific accuracy: Water expands when it freezes.

And thus, the suit contends, even when counting ice as an ingredient, people are still getting ripped off once the ice melts.

The company said in a statement to Patch that Pincus has no case.

"We are aware of the plaintiff’s claims, which we fully believe to be frivolous and without merit," the statement said. "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."

Or next time, just order your iced coffee without ice. If only Starbucks had a name for that ...

Image via Flickr user poolie, used under Creative Commons