No Fruit in 'Fruit' Drinks: Starbucks Sued

Customer claims $5 million

Starbucks will likely have to defend itself in court against claims that, while having fruit-flavored names, some of its refresher fruit beverages deceive customers by not really containing fruit. Judge John Cronan of the US District Court in Manhattan rejected the coffee chain's attempt to have nine of the case's eleven claims dismissed.

A variety of Starbucks Refresher beverages, such as Mango Dragon fruit, Pineapple Passion fruit, and Strawberry Acai, are at the center of the controversy. The fruits mentioned in these beverages' titles, according to consumers, are not present in any of them. According to Reuters, the key ingredients were sugar, grape juice concentrate, and water.

Starbucks said in its defense that the titles of the drinks were intended to convey their flavor profiles rather than their ingredient counts. The Seattle-based Corporation further maintained that the naming would not lead to any reasonable consumer being misled and that any misunderstandings could have been cleared up by in-store employees.

Judge Cronan pointed out that terms like "mango," "Passion Fruit," and "Açai" are commonly recognized to signify not only flavor but also the presence of the item itself, unlike the phrase "vanilla," which has been the subject of numerous litigation.