A man has accused Costa of ‘ripping off’ customers by charging more for large drinks that fit in regular cups.
Lewis Axall went viral on TikTok after filming himself pouring a large coffee from a Costa self-service machine at a petrol station into one of their regular paper cups.
The 27-year-old says he paid £2.60 for the large coffee in Ackworth in Wakefield, West Yorkshire.
But after a mishap with his cup, he found there weren’t any large cups left and he tried pouring it into a smaller one, willing to give up anything that was leftover.
He says he found all the liquid fitted in the smaller cup, but he would have saved 50p if he went for that option.
In response, Costa says that none of the cups are filled to the top to make it easier for customers to carry without burning themselves.
The brand says that because of this gap left at the top, the drink can be poured into a smaller cup but it will fill it up further.
It also adds that the machine dispenses more milk and froth depending on the drink ordered and that if the coffee is poured from one cup to another, a lot of the froth and air is lost.
The finished volumes are calibrated to 12 fl. oz for regular drinks and 16fl. oz for large drinks with different coffee, milk, water volumes depending on the selected drink.
Costa insists that those who pay for a large do get more coffee and liquid than those paying for a regular drink.
Musician Lewis, fromWest Yorkshire, posted the clip last month writing: ‘To all you Costa Coffee lovers. Extra 50p for a different- sized cup.’
During the video, he says: ‘Come on Costa you need to sort this out man.
‘Why are we paying an extra 50p for a large drink when it’s exactly the same as a regular?’
Explaining how he made the discovery at his local petrol station, Lewis said: ‘The machine decided to take a funny turn, which resulted in the outer side of my cup being full of froth so I went to get a new cup but there weren’t any large left.
‘They only had medium so I decided to pour the large into the medium and take my losses if there was some left over but, to my amazement the large Costa cup fitted into the medium Costa cup.
‘Two weeks later, I decided I would try it again but this time I would place a medium cup under the machine and press for a large and once again the large fitted in the medium.’
Once you order your coffee, you take it to the till to pay and some said that as it fitted, they planned to use the smaller cups from now on but choose the larger drink.
One wrote: ‘At the Costa machines put a medium cup but order large, it will fill it perfectly and you’ll be charged for a medium obviously.’
Another said: ‘I got a large from a machine the other day and when I took the lid off if. It was only three-quarters full. Rip off.’
A Costa spokeswoman said: ‘We can assure customers that when purchasing a large Costa Express drink you are receiving more coffee and liquid compared to a regular size.
‘Each drink, including volume of coffee, liquid, and milk froth texture, which is lost when pouring from one cup to another, is dispensed according to cup size and drink selected.
‘For the safety of our customers no drink is ever filled to the brim of the cup, as shown in the video.’
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