Is there a great Starbucks latte conspiracy? These 2 Californians think so.

published 18 March 2016

Two Californians, fed up with their Starbucks lattes not being quite full enough, have decided to take action. On Wednesday, Starbucks regulars Siera Strumlauf and Benjamin Robles filed a lawsuit against the coffee chain, accusing the company of "purposefully underfilling lattes by at least 25 percent," Grub Street reports. They say that, for instance, a 16-ounce "grande" latte only contains 12 ounces of milk plus two 1-ounce shots of espresso, meaning customers are getting short-changed on at least two ounces of latte — about four tablespoons worth.

This isn't just the problem of a few bad baristas either, the pair contends; they think the ploy of putting less milk in the lattes is an "intentional act of fraud" that runs company-wide. According to Strumlauf and Robles, 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."

Starbucks, however, disagrees. These are "handcrafted beverages," the company says, and, as such, they vary in size.