Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2024/05/08/panera-bread-to-phase-out-caffeine-infused-charged-lemonade-after-deaths.html
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I don’t understand what they were thinking with these drinks, and especially the marketing of them, to begin with. If you’re going to sell drinks with a shitload of caffeine, there’s a market for that, I’m sure. But you’re going to have to make it really clear to people that that’s what these drinks are, or the market you’re after isn’t going to notice. I guess they thought the word “charged” and some fine print would get the word out? And then, of course, the subtlety caused people who didn’t want, and really couldn’t have, the caffeine to order the drinks, not realizing what they were. This was just unavoidably stupid and tragic. And it’s shameful that Panera hasn’t already settled with the families filing the lawsuits. They should have just whipped out a checkbook, asked “how much?”, and taken the drinks off the menu when the first lawsuit was filed. They’re lucky they’re not on the hook for manslaughter. Maybe they should be.
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Why not just cut it back to a “normal” level of caffeine, like what you would get in a cup of coffee? Honestly, that’s what I would assume the caffeine level would be? Like, having ANY caffeine in a normally non-caffeinated drink makes it “charged.”
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It has less than their dark roast. I think a lot of the problem is self serve where you’re not getting a defined amount.
ETA: Less per ounce.
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But does anybody think about “caffeine per ounce”? You think about per-serving, and the “serving size” of a lemonade is at least twice what a serving size for a dark-roast coffee would be.
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That’s why it really did need to be behind the counter with well measured sizes.
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It needs to be gone which is why it is going.
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It does now. I think initially it had much more caffeine. They did reduce the amount of caffeine after the initial death, I think. A 30 oz cup originally had 390 mg of caffeine. The FDA’s maximum safe level is 400 mg per day. After the initial complaints, they dropped it to 270 mg. And sure, per ounce, that’s probably less than their dark roast, but no one orders a 30 oz cup of coffee. The venti at Starbucks is 20 oz. A “normal” cup of coffee, like you’d make at home, is 8 oz.
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Jesus. At that level you’re probably safer just taking amphetamines.
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Of course, I don’t order it, I am far too picky for that. I do, however, make it in vast quantities.
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I used to drink coffee in vast quantities. Then I had a heart attack at age 51, which is way too young to be having a heart attack. I have to watch the caffeine intake now. And the fat intake. And the salt intake. And I quit drinking years before that. I don’t really get to do any of that fun stuff anymore. Aging sucks.
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Sorry to hear about your health. Kudos to you for managing it & continuing to live productively.
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I turn 60 this fall. My wife, who lives much more healthfully than I, had a heart attack last year. We have changed a lot since, but my coffee remains.
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Yeah - I was trying to figure out if the problem was that the drink wasn’t sufficiently labeled, or the amount of caffeine in it, and holy shit, both. The name is insufficiently descriptive, and even if you know it has caffeine (and really the amount, as the milligrams won’t mean anything to most people), you’re not expecting a large lemonade to be equivalent to four cups of coffee. If you sell something like that, at minimum you call it “highly-caffeinated lemonade.”
As someone who has never routinely drunk coffee and gets pretty affected by lightly caffeinated sodas, even when I was younger and my blood pressure was really good that probably would have done some real damage to me - and I wouldn’t have been expecting it.
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Man, I almost bought some “Charged” Crystal Light lemonade drink mix. Yes I did notice a slight variation of the package, but thought it was just an update. There is a little .5-.75" circle saying its “charged with caffeine” which I noticed after it rang up a different price. That would have sucked when I got a lemonade at 10pm at night and it had caffeine in it! I can’t do that anymore and sleep.
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I love the smarminess of the “low-caffeine options”. Normal lemonade has zero caffeine; there is no “low-caffeine” lemonade.
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Maybe your home. I have delightful 20oz ‘things could be worse’ mugs, and I enjoy using them. Now I do tend to make lattes, so I’m only half filling the mug with coffee…
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I tried larger cups - but found they went cold too quickly - so while the travel mug that stays hot all day is a 20 oz mug - the cups stay 8 oz - I don’t mind making another cup when I run out - but I can’t stand it when it goes cold on me.
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Next: Lemonade infused with Hemlock.
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Punishing! Classical Lemonade*
*processed in a facility that also processes wild carrots
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