Summary
A California jury awarded Michael Garcia $50 million after he suffered severe burns from a spilled Starbucks hot tea, requiring skin grafts and causing permanent disfigurement.
Garcia’s lawsuit alleged a Starbucks employee failed to secure the drink in a tray, leading to the spill. Starbucks offered a $30 million settlement with confidentiality, which Garcia rejected.
The company plans to appeal, calling the damages excessive.
The case echoes past lawsuits over hot beverage burns, including the famous McDonald’s coffee case from the 1990s.
I get if you are doing something different personally, but its literally the recommendation on the box. When I was learning about coffee I found that water into the brew basket or pour over at 185 would produce a terrible sour flavor, and that is well known in specialty coffee. Tea seems to be more forgiving, but I still let my water hit a boil before I brew mine. First result on google for a tea shop states the same thing: https://artfultea.com/blogs/101/tea-brewing-temperature-guide
I’m all for ganging up on mega-corps and watching them squirm when a lawsuit comes around, but it may have been a bit extreme to call my statement false. If Starbucks did anything wrong here, to me it was the cup not being seated in the carrier, not the water temperature.
Also, what stops drive-thrus from serving the kind of tea that you can brew at slightly cooler temp?
It’s up to the business to decide how and what they serve safely. If hot tea cannot be served safely, don’t serve it. Or maybe invest that goddamn extra cent into a cup that does not spill.
I called the statement false, because it is. If it were true, sun tea would not be possible. Tea brewed at progressively lower temperatures has longer steeping time, but tea can indeed be brewed much lower than boiling point. I encourage you to test this yourself if you don’t believe me.
Also, I emphasize again: I literally brew tea at 70°C all the time. So no, tea does not need to be brewed at 100°C.