Your morning coffee might be good to the last drop, but consumers are starting to complain that they’re not getting enough drops for their buck.
In a lawsuit filed in federal court in Fort Lauderdale, Broward County, Fla., resident Kimberly E. Ferron claims that packages of Maxwell House and Yuban ground coffees intentionally exaggerate the number of 6-ounce cups consumers can expect to make from the amount of coffee inside them.
She says there’s no way a 26.8-ounce container of Maxwell House Master Blend will yield 180 to 210 servings if purchasers follow the label’s “suggested strength” recipe of one tablespoon per 6-ounce cup.
The amount of coffee in the container won’t even yield the minimum number of cups — 180 — claimed on the package if consumers use 1 tablespoon for 6 ounces, Ferron’s claim states.
Ferron is “aggrieved” and “deprived of the benefit of the bargain she reasonably anticipated from the product’s labeling and advertising,” according to the lawsuit filed by Winter Haven-based Southern Atlantic Law Group PLLC.
The suit seeks class action status and more than $30,000 in damages, plus interest, costs and attorneys fees.
Kraft Heinz, represented by Jeffrey Foreman of Miami-based Kenny Nachwalter PA, did not respond to a request for comment.
Ferron’s suit follows others across the country accusing coffee manufacturers of exaggerating how many cups can be brewed from their packages’ contents.
Four of the suits were filed in California: Walmart was sued in August over claims on its “Great Value” coffee can. Kroger was sued in July over claims on its Kroger-brand coffee packages. Folgers was sued in May by two separate plaintiffs who said they were deceived by claims on that company’s labels.
Plaintiffs in these suits say they would not have bought the products if they knew that the labels exaggerated the ingredients.
Those suits followed a September 2019 post on the website of Truth in Advertising, a consumer-focused nonprofit organization, challenging Folgers’ claim that its 30.5-ounce Classic Roast package makes up to 240 6-ounce cups.
The post’s authors said they measured out the number of tablespoons in the container and discovered just 175 — 65 tablespoons short of the amount needed to brew 240 cups.
Responding to Truth In Advertising’s questions about its findings, a Folgers representative said the company calculates “our suggested cups per container based on the net weight and density of the ground coffee.”
Then the rep said that “the blend of beans and the degree of roasting both affect the weight of the ground coffee, and the density between blends can vary.”
And: “While we usually suggest using one to two tablespoons of ground coffee for every 6 fluid ounces of water during preparation, this can be adjusted to the consumer’s personal preference, and can have an impact on the amount of cups a canister will yield.
“With these factors in mind, we’ve found that typically, a 30.5-ounce container should yield about 215 to 240 cups per canister.”
The website pointed out that “1 to 2 tablespoons” completely changes the equation and skews the clearly stated instructions to use 1 tablespoon for “best brewing results.”
Using 2 tablespoons would yield even fewer cups than the 175 tablespoons counted by Truth In Advertising.
In July, Folgers came up with a different explanation, in a filing seeking to dismiss a suit filed in June by Palm Beach County resident Marcia Sorin that claims the coffee maker deceived consumers by claiming its canister can make “up to 380 cups.”
Folger’s canister actually never claims it contains 380 tablespoons of coffee and doesn’t say that consumers can make 380 “suggested strength” 6-ounce servings by using the ratio of 1 tablespoon of coffee per 6 ounces of water, Folgers’ response states.“Instead, the canister has recommendations “(f)or best brewing results,” and Folgers states that ‘we recommend’ using certain fluid ounces of cold water and tablespoons of coffee per serving,” the company’s filing says.
In addition, nowhere on the Folgers canister does it state that the product is “incapable” of making up to 380 suggested strength servings, the filing said.
Folgers also pointed out that “suggested strength” can be achieved using 8 tablespoons to make 10 cups, proving that “more water means fewer tablespoons of coffee.”
Left unstated is whether that line of reasoning would require a consumer to brew 110 cups at a time in a commercial-sized urn to achieve the advertised yield.
Truth in Advertising’s post asks a question not addressed in the lawsuits or the coffee makers’ suggested strength recipes: Who drinks 6-ounce cups of coffee anyway?
October 31, 2020 at 11:15AM
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Forget the label. How many cups of coffee can you get from the package? - Frederick News Post
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