Like many coffee-loving individuals, the first thing I do every morning is make myself a coffee, a Chemex to be exact. I trend toward lighter roasted coffee, which often brew better at higher temperature, so I can the kettle all the way up to 207°F. It’s pretty hot, and I know it’s pretty hot, but it has yet to keep the excitement of a fresh cup of coffee from getting the better of me and taking a big ole slug as soon as the brew is done.
The coffee is, of course, too hot. The flavors aren’t even popping yet, but I can’t help myself. The over-eagerness is part of my morning ritual. But is it too hot for human consumption? Not even close. And that is just one of the many ways the coffee I brew at home allegedly differs from that at McDonalds, who is currently facing yet another lawsuit stating the company serves coffee that is too hot for human consumption.
As reported by NJ.com, a Woolwich, New Jersey man claims that he suffered “severe injury” and his car was damaged when a hot cup of McDonald’s coffee was spilled on his lap. The lawsuit alleges that the drive-thru worker acted negligently and it led to the coffee spilling. The suit claims the New Jersey man “lost time from work and incurred expenses to repair and clean the inside of his vehicle.”
This isn’t the first suit McDonald’s faces over allegedly serving too hot drinks. It’s not even the first one this year. Or the first one this year in Jersey. Per NJ.com, in January a Morris County woman filed a similar claim against the company after hot tea was spilled on her. A similar thing happened in November in Newark, also from tea. And in September, a Union City woman filed a suit claiming she suffered “burns resulting in scarring” from a hot McDonald’s coffee. (There was a similar case in San Francisco filed not but 11 days before this one.)
It’s all reminiscent of the high-profile lawsuit in the early ‘90s, where an Albuquerque, New Mexico woman successfully sed McDonald’s when it was determined that the company was serving drinks up to 30 degrees hotter than other restaurants.
So should you find yourself in a McDonald’s drive-thru early one morning, presumably to grab a delicious bacon, egg, and cheese sandwich—without question their greatest breakfast item—and you feel compelled to get a coffee, make sure you receive the beverage outside of your car window, using two hands at all times. And maybe fight the urge and hold off on giving it a sip.
Zac Cadwalader is the managing editor at Sprudge Media Network and a staff writer based in Dallas. Read more Zac Cadwalader on Sprudge.
