Big Secrets Coffee Chains Tried To Hide

It's official: We live in a nation of coffee lovers. According to the National Coffee Association, coffee consumption was higher in the spring of 2024 than it's been in over 20 years, having increased by a whopping 37% since 2004. Maybe we're more stressed, maybe we're more tired, or maybe we're just more easily swayed by the ever-increasing number of flavors and syrups on offer (for context, pumpkin spice lattes were only in their infancy back in 2004). Whatever the reason, we're visiting our go-to coffee shops more than ever — and they're doing everything they can to keep us wrapped around their caffeinated finger.

In the java haze, sometimes it's hard to see exactly how our favorite stores keep us hooked. The reality is that there are some not-so-tasty truths about the coffee industry that we're willing to bet the head honchos wish had stayed secret. Fortunately, while we're pretty dedicated to our daily cup (okay, let's be real, cups) of joe, we're also committed to transparency about what goes on behind the scenes. Here are some of the shadiest secrets plaguing major coffee chains.

Two coffees aren't always built equal. While drinks from different coffee shops may look similar in size, they're not always made to the same strength. In fact, some outlets produce notably stronger coffees, which means that you're getting more bang for your buck (or more caffeine for your cup) in some locations than others.

The most frustrating thing is that there's no real consistency. For example, a 20-fluid-ounce Americano — AKA a venti at Starbucks or a large hot coffee at Dunkin', if you want to picture it more clearly — contains approximately (depending on the specific drink) 300 milligrams at Starbucks, 371 milligrams at Dunkin', and 360 milligrams at Caribou. Meanwhile, 20-fluid ounce coffees contain significantly less caffeine in some other stores, with just 187 milligrams in a Dutch Bros Americano of the same size, 210 milligrams at Peet's Coffee, and 270 milligrams at Tim Hortons. In other words, caffeine content varies — a lot.

If you're after a serious boost, you may want to double-check how much caffeine you'll be getting for your money before choosing where to place your order. At the same time, if you ever find yourself feeling jittery after drinking a large coffee at one chain but energized and ready to go after visiting another, it may be that some stores just exceed your personal caffeine tolerance. As a general rule, a healthy adult's tolerance sits at around 400 milligrams per day, but everyone's limits are different.

Ever sat down and calculated just how much you spend on takeout coffee per year? If you're hooked on caffeine, you may find that the answer is much higher than you thought. Yes, we're speaking from experience. While we're not going to give credence to those who insist that the younger generations could buy houses if they ditched their daily treats, we will admit that visiting coffee shops takes a heavier toll on our wallets today than it did as recently as five years ago — which is what makes it all the more shocking to learn just how much of a markup coffee shops place on our drinks.

As per Drink/Stack, the majority of coffee shops put an 80% markup on their coffees, with the average Starbucks coffee costing just $1 to make. You'll find the biggest markups on a coffee shop's more straightforward drinks, such as black coffee, which only requires a handful of ingredients and minimal preparation. Of course, markups are a necessary part of any business. It doesn't matter if it's Starbucks or a small neighborhood cafe — coffee shops need to pay their workers, cover the cost of materials (with coffee beans in particular soaring in price in recent years), and still turn a profit. However, that doesn't make it any easier to swallow just how much of a premium you're really paying for the luxury of a daily vanilla oat latte.

The coffee industry is riddled with ethical issues. Not all coffee beans are farmed in a way that's sustainable or fair to the actual laborers involved. Child labor is a rampant issue, with farmers pushing through extremely long hours and often only earning between 7% and 10% — sometimes even just 2% — of the retail price of coffee.

Unfortunately, multiple major chains have been linked to unethical farming practices over the years. In January 2024, the National Consumers League filed a lawsuit against the biggest of the bunch — Starbucks — over claims that marketing itself as being "committed to 100% ethical sourcing" was deceptive due to the fact that there are "documented, severe human rights and labor abuses, including the use of child labor and forced labor as well as rampant and egregious sexual harassment and assault" in its supply chain (via CNN).

This followed a 2023 investigation that found evidence of both current and past slave and child labor at coffee farms used by Starbucks in Minas Gerais, Brazil. A year before that, a Brazilian labor prosecutor issued a complaint against the biggest Starbucks supplier in Brazil, alleging that it had illegally trafficked at least 30 workers. Other chains have faced similarly concerning accusations. Back in 2018, multiple victims of poor farming conditions united to accuse McDonald's, Dunkin', and Nestlé of not doing their due diligence to avoid sourcing coffee beans from farms that don't use slave labor.

The vast majority of drinks sold at a coffee shop are made custom-to-order, which is partially why things can be so hectic during peak hours. One of the few exceptions is drip coffee, which is brewed at select time intervals, ready to be poured out for caffeine-deprived customers at a slightly lower price than your average espresso-based beverage.

Chains are increasingly leaning into specialty drinks that are harder to make at home, which is why some — such as Dutch Bros — don't even offer drip coffee. Two places you're guaranteed to find it is at both Starbucks and Dunkin', the latter of which has notoriously high standards for brewing said coffee. As a rule, it discards and brews a new carafe every 18 minutes. Unsurprisingly, this practice leads to a fair amount of waste if demand is low. Starbucks previously operated on a similar system, tossing its batches of drip coffee every 30 minutes. In 2022, however, it started rolling out its Clover Vertica technology. This can brew a cup of drip coffee in just 30 seconds, which means customers can request their favorite roast on demand and stores can cut down on the waste of both coffee and paper filters.

Did you know that before a coffee bean ever becomes usable for coffee, it's green? That iconic chocolate brown hue is a result of the roasting process. The majority of those you see in coffee shops are an extremely deep shade of brown because they're dark roasts, which basically means that they're roasted to the point of being nearly burnt. But that's exactly why coffee shops love a dark roast. When all the coffee beans are roasted to this level, they offer a more consistent flavor and it's harder to tell if they're low quality. That in turn makes it easier for coffee shops to get away with using lower quality beans (which, of course, are cheaper).

Not all coffee shops follow this practice. However, many have previously argued that coffee from Starbucks — which also offers two lighter roasts, Blonde Roast and Medium Roast, in addition to its standard Signature Espresso – tastes both burnt and bitter. As one Reddit user so eloquently put it, "If you walk in and ask for just a plain old cup of coffee you'll get a cup of liquid that tastes like a cigarette butt." Of course, the chain has never admitted to outright burning its coffee beans.

Coffee cups are notoriously bad for the environment. While reusable cups are becoming increasingly common, it's thought that around 50 billion disposable coffee cups still end up in landfill every single year in the U.S. alone, with a significant number of these being non-biodegradable. In other words, they'll sit there and pollute the planet, with the average polyethylene-lined paper cup taking up to 20 years to decompose.

While Starbucks is clear about its sustainable coffee cup goals — aiming to produce "100% compostable, recyclable, or reusable" cups by 2030 (via Starbucks) — it's still a way away from meeting this target. Although its hot cups look like they're made from paper, the issue is that they contain a plastic lining (the aforementioned polyethylene, which makes up roughly 5% of the total cup) that's tough to recycle. The chain slashed the amount of plastic in these cups by 10 to 20% in 2024, but currently only its plastic cups are fully recyclable.

It's not the only chain facing this issue. At Dunkin', only the lids of its paper cups are recyclable, just as long as that city offers polypropylene recycling. And while Tim Hortons has experimented with various ways of reducing the environmental impact of its packaging — such as trialling plastic-free lids, axing double-cupping at its Canadian outlets, and turning used hot coffee cups into trays — they still remain largely non-recyclable as, like Starbucks, they contain an inner plastic lining.

If you order a medium coffee and your friend orders a large, it is only logical to think that your friend is heading for a bigger caffeine buzz, right? Well, not necessarily. At Starbucks, the reality is that its grande (medium) and venti (large) drinks both contain two shots of espresso apiece. The same is true of its short (extra small) and tall (small) coffees, into both of which a Starbucks barista will add one shot of espresso. You may be paying more for one drink, but you will get the exact same caffeine hit either way. The only exception to this rule is if you order an iced drink, which uses two shots in its grande sizes and three in the venti.

You'll find a similar issue at Dutch Bros, where the chain's small and medium coffees both contain equal amounts of caffeine. If you want to ensure that you're actually getting more caffeine in a large coffee and not just paying for extra milk and ice, Dunkin', Caribou, McDonald's, Seattle's Best, and Tim Hortons all actually increase the number of shots in your drink when you level up in size. Visiting a coffee shop that isn't on this list? Ask your barista before ordering, and they will be able to tell you exactly how many shots go into each size of their coffees. And, of course, you can always request an extra shot in your drink (usually for an extra charge).

We live in the golden era of fun and creative coffee flavors, with everything from olive oil to donuts added into some drinks by major chains. However, it is not always totally clear what exact ingredients go into their more elaborate drinks. For the vast majority of chains, pumpkin spice lattes contain no actual pumpkin (Starbucks is, surprisingly, the exception) and are instead heavily reliant on the "spice" aspect. Some of the other syrups used in coffee chains are also far less literal with their ingredients than you'd think. Hazelnut syrup, for example, rarely contains actual hazelnut, while the popular toffeenut syrup at Starbucks is also totally sans nuts. "All of our syrups are named based on flavor profile," a Starbucks spokesperson previously explained to Allergic Living in regards to the accuracy of its name.

More specifically, Starbucks has caught a lot of flak for its Refreshers line, having been slapped with a class action lawsuit in 2023 due to the fact that the drinks don't actually contain the mango, açaí, and passion fruit cited in their names. Peet's Coffee has also been accused of deceiving its customers. The maker of the artificial sweetener brand Splenda sued the chain in 2023, claiming that it was tricking customers into thinking it offers Splenda when, in reality, it actually offers a generic sucralose sweetener in a yellow packet that looks suspiciously similar to the iconic Splenda packets.

Decaf coffee isn't totally caffeine-free, but it does strip each cup of most of its trademark buzz. While there are a few ways to decaffeinate coffee, the most common is the Direct Contact Method. Used by the likes of Starbucks, this involves steaming coffee beans and rinsing them with a chemical solvent — such as ethyl acetate or methylene chloride — which removes at least 97% of the natural caffeine.

The original method concocted by coffee merchant Ludwig Roselius used benzene, which we now obviously know can cause cancer. What makes this method controversial is the fact that methylene chloride is also a suspected carcinogen, one deemed so dangerous that it was banned from paint strippers under the Toxic Substances Control Act in April 2024. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has enforced strict limits on how much methylene chloride can be used in the decaffeination process and will only allow 10 parts per million (ppm), which is approximately 10 drops of water in every 10 gallons.

For that reason, it is questionable how much of a risk decaf coffee made with the Direct Contact Method actually poses, but that has not stopped it from earning a controversial reputation. In April 2024, a bill was proposed in California that would criminalize the production or sale of decaf coffee made with methylene chloride. The Environmental Defense Fund has also petitioned the FDA to consider banning it in all foods.

A splash of oat milk can make all the difference to those with lactose intolerance or dairy allergies — but more often than not, they'll need to pay for the pleasure of a risk-free latte. Multiple major chains have been blasted for their habit of charging extra for non-dairy milk. The likes of oat, almond, coconut, or soy milk typically come with an up-charge that costs as much as 80 cents more per drink, which has driven some dairy-free customers to such frustrated extremes that they've actually taken legal action.

In 2024, Starbucks was hit with a class-action lawsuit that argued that this practice was akin to "illegal price discrimination" in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act (via Business Insider). The fury over non-dairy milk has been brewing for years, with PETA even purchasing shares in Starbucks for the sole purpose of calling for the chain to stop asking those who are against dairy cows being "raped via an inserted syringe" to pay extra, notes PETA.

Peet's Coffee, Coffee Bean, and Dunkin', have all fielded similar lawsuits. As was pointed out in the latter complaint, the real kicker in the whole situation is the fact that there is no significant price difference between non-dairy milk and cow's milk. Many coffee shops will also adjust your drinks to be sugar-free or caffeine-free at no extra cost, making the non-dairy-versus-dairy situation an extremely frustrating double standard.