Four customers have filed a class-action lawsuit against specialty grocer Trader Joe’s and urged the company to correct its coffee labels, alleging it skimped shoppers on caffeine and failed to label one of its coffee products as decaffeinated.
Shoppers said the packaging of the product at the center of the lawsuit, French Roast Low Acid Whole Bean Coffee, leads customers to believe they are getting a fully caffeinated beverage.
According to court documents reviewed by USA TODAY, customers argued that fully decaffeinated coffee is generally not labeled as such and instead, companies only label products with lower caffeine content.
Therefore, Trader Joe’s coffee is not labeled as decaffeinated coffee and because of this, customers purchasing the coffee think they are purchasing a fully caffeinated product, the lawsuit states. According to the documents, North Carolina-based coffee competitor Purosta Coffee conducted testing as part of the February 2025 lawsuit, which allegedly showed the coffee contained less than half the caffeine of regular blends.
USA TODAY has not independently verified the test.
“Consumers purchase the product thinking it is fully caffeinated when it is not,” the documents allege. “This is a material misrepresentation… the caffeine content of coffee blends influences a consumer’s purchasing decision.”
The law firm Bryson, Harris, Susiu & Demme, PLLC is representing the four clients, who are from California, New York and Illinois, according to court documents reviewed by USA TODAY.
USA TODAY contacted Trader Joe’s for comment but did not immediately receive a response.
The lawsuit alleges that testing found the coffee contained less caffeine.
According to the lawsuit, previous testing of Purost Coffee found that French Roast Low Acid Whole Bean Coffee has less caffeine than other Trader Joe’s coffee products, as well as products from other brands.
According to allegations made in the lawsuit, the grocery store’s French Roast Low Acid Whole Bean Coffee, which is a dark coffee alternative, has 53% the caffeine.
Compared to other brands, the most recent lawsuit states that French Roast Low Acid Whole Bean Coffee:
- Purost House Blend coffee contains 45% caffeine.
- 17.8% less caffeine than Folger’s Half-Caf brand.
- 24.5% less caffeine than Purost’s Half-Caf brand.
Four customers alleged that the product’s “low acid” claim is not accurate, as testing also showed that the coffee is “only slightly less acidic than the average cup of dark roast coffee” and that the acidity of the coffee falls in the same range as regular coffee. USA TODAY has not independently verified the acidity test.
The lawsuit also alleges that Trader Joe’s misrepresented the coffee’s caffeine content by failing to advertise the drink as “half-caf” coffee. According to lawyers, Half Café coffee contains only half the amount of caffeine compared to similar coffee products.
The lawsuit also alleges that by using similar labels such as “Full” and “Rich” on fully-caffeinated products on Trader Joe’s shelves, the company has misled customers and caused them to think that French Roast Low Acid Whole Bean Coffee is completely decaffeinated.
The customers who filed the lawsuit are also demanding damages and attorney’s fees.
How might this lawsuit affect customers?
The customers in the lawsuit ask that Trader Joe’s correct its marketing materials and product labels, and recall the product so that customers who purchased the coffee in hopes of getting more caffeine can be refunded in full.
