Class Action Claims TOPS Coffee Canisters Produce 20% Fewer Cups Than Advertised

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A proposed class action claims TOPS-brand ground coffee is falsely advertised in that the contents of one canister cannot make the number of cups specified on the label.

The 10-page lawsuit claims that although 11.5-ounce canisters of TOPS 100% Pure Coffee, French Roast, Ground Coffee, Dark Roast purport to be able to produce 90 cups of coffee, consumers will not be able to make “anywhere close to” that amount when the directions for use are followed. The case alleges independent laboratory tests have determined that only 72 cups of coffee can be brewed from the contents of the TOPS product if one tablespoon of ground coffee is used per cup as directed.

“This means that the Product delivers twenty percent fewer cups of coffee than promised on the label, which is what consumers paid for,” the complaint asserts, claiming consumers would not have purchased the coffee, or would have paid less for it, had they known the truth.

Defendant Tops Markets, LLC operates approximately 150 supermarkets under the Tops Friendly Markets brand in New York, Pennsylvania and Vermont, the case explains. The suit says TOPS, the company’s private label brand, has an “industry-wide reputation for quality and value.” As such, consumers who view the prominent “90 Cups” representation on the front label of TOPS ground coffee reasonably expect that the product could produce no fewer than 90 cups of coffee, the lawsuit argues. 

“However, the representation that the Product makes ‘90 CUPS’ of coffee is false, deceptive and misleading,” the complaint scathes.

The lawsuit argues that Tops has sold more of the coffee product, and at higher prices, than it would have absent its misleadingly labeling.

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