During the trial it was revealed that McDonald’s knew that heating their coffee to this temperature would be dangerous, but they did it anyways because it would save them money. When you serve coffee that is too hot to drink, it will take much longer for a person to drink their coffee, which means that McDonald’s will not have to give out as many free refills of coffee. This policy by the fast food chain is the reason the jury awarded $2.7 million dollars in punitive damages in the McDonald’s hot coffee case. Punitive damages are meant to punish the defendant for their inappropriate business practice.
They didn’t serve the coffee at that temp to save money, they did it because that was the recommended holding temp for coffee.
After this lawsuit, they didn’t lower their coffee temps, they just made better cups and lids, and added more warnings.
Recommended by who, is the thing. The recommended holding temp for coffee is 110°, McDonalds of that era was holding it at 200°, and claiming it was so that when you arrived at your destination with your coffee it would have cooled down to drinking temperature, even though that is not what people use drive throughs for
The recommended drinking temp of coffee is higher than 110F.
I can almost guarantee you nobody is drinking 200° coffee. Hell, not even 160°. Closer to 140° is where it gets bearable without burning your mouth, but that’s still pushing it
Did I say people drink their coffee at 200F? I was responding to someone claiming that coffee should be held at 110F, which is fucking crazy.
Drinking temps are usually 125-140F, holding and serving temps should be higher than drinking temps, especially if people might add cream to it.
I drink mine at 168F (measured it this morning). That’s after I add a lot of sugar and cream to it. It’s 190F before I do that.
It seems a lot of people in this thread don’t own a thermometer and won’t try dipping it into a cup of coffee to see what temperature it actually is. Just believe whatever the personal injury lawyers say, don’t verify it!
Yeah, I know it’s pointless to try to educate people, but I can’t help myself. I knew the downvotes were coming, but the truth needs to be told.
I got downvotes for saying that 110F was too low for drinking. That’s barely over hot tub temps. People are crazy.
Yeah, it’s the “I did my own research on the internet” compulsion. Something on the internet lets you in on a little secret and if you buy into it, it makes you smarter than everyone who’s not aware of it. Once someone’s been convinced that they’re special for having some knowledge that most people aren’t aware of, it’s very hard to convince them that the majority is correct about it, not matter how many facts are presented that contradicts the special knowledge.
It’s why flat earthers exist. Of course that’s way more extreme (it’s almost a lifestyle really) than this thing. But this thing takes a lot less effort to verify scientifically, just stick a thermometer into a cup of coffee. The compulsion is different by degrees, but the psychological cause is similar.