--- title: Customers Suing Starbucks for Allegedly Underfilling Lattes description: Starbucks is being sued by two California residents who claim the coffee chain knowingly underfills its lattes. canonical: https://time.com/4264634/starbucks-sued-underfilling-lattes/ author: Megan McCluskey article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-03-18T19:01:38.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:31:00.953Z og:title: Two Customers Are Suing Starbucks for Allegedly Underfilling Lattes og:description: They claim the drinks are "approximately 25% underfilled” og:url: https://time.com/4264634/starbucks-sued-underfilling-lattes/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta85c5f0cdee2f756/69888ba8428a9e0dfecd1e03/starbucks-lawsuit.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Coffee Shop Drinks Found To Contain Excessive Amounts Of Sugar og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Two Customers Are Suing Starbucks for Allegedly Underfilling Lattes twitter:description: They claim the drinks are "approximately 25% underfilled” twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta85c5f0cdee2f756/69888ba8428a9e0dfecd1e03/starbucks-lawsuit.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Two Customers Are Suing Starbucks for Allegedly Underfilling Lattes  by [Megan McCluskey](https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/)  ## Megan McCluskey Staff Writer Mar 18, 2016 7:01 PM UTC  A collection of venti sized Starbucks take away cups. A collection of venti sized Starbucks take away cups.Ben Pruchnie/Getty Images  by [Megan McCluskey](https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/)  ## Megan McCluskey Staff Writer Mar 18, 2016 7:01 PM UTC [Starbucks](http://time.com/4250045/starbucks-sandwiches-recall-listeria/) is being sued by two California residents who claim the [coffee chain](http://time.com/4232729/starbucks-change-rewards-program/) knowingly underfills its lattes. Siera Strumlauf and Benjamin Robles have filed a class action lawsuit on behalf of purchasers of Starbucks lattes stating that the beverages are “approximately 25% underfilled” based on the sizes listed on the company’s menu, reports [Eater](http://www.eater.com/2016/3/18/11260898/starbucks-lawsuit-underfilled-lattes). The complaint alleges that Starbucks’ standardized latte recipe results in beverages that are smaller than the size [customers](http://time.com/4234163/starbucks-rewards-program-anger/) are purchasing. It also says the cups themselves aren’t large enough to contain the number of fluid ounces promised. “By underfilling its lattes, thereby shortchanging its customers, Starbucks has saved countless millions of dollars in the cost of goods sold and was unjustly enriched by taking payment for more product than it delivers,” the suit says. **Read More:** [Starbucks Is Selling a Cherry Blossom Frappuccino](http://time.com/4258950/starbucks-cherry-blossom-frappuccino/) A Starbucks spokesperson told Eater that the claims are unjustified: “We are aware of the plaintiffs’ claims, which we fully believe to be without merit. We are proud to serve our customers high-quality, handcrafted and customized beverages, and we inform customers of the likelihood of variations.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4264634/starbucks-sued-underfilling-lattes/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4264634/starbucks-sued-underfilling-lattes/"},"headline":"Two Customers Are Suing Starbucks for Allegedly Underfilling Lattes","datePublished":"2016-03-18T19:01:38.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:31:00.953Z","description":"They claim the drinks are \"approximately 25% underfilled”","url":"https://time.com/4264634/starbucks-sued-underfilling-lattes/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Business topic","Starbucks","Coffee","lawsuits"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta85c5f0cdee2f756/69888ba8428a9e0dfecd1e03/starbucks-lawsuit.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Megan McCluskey","jobTitle":"Staff Writer","url":"https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta85c5f0cdee2f756/69888ba8428a9e0dfecd1e03/starbucks-lawsuit.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Coffee Shop Drinks Found To Contain Excessive Amounts Of Sugar","caption":"A collection of venti sized Starbucks take away cups","creditText":"Ben Pruchnie/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4264634/starbucks-sued-underfilling-lattes/","name":"Two Customers Are Suing Starbucks for Allegedly Underfilling Lattes"}}]}] ```