City’s New Drink Rules Add Wrinkle to Coffee Orders

VIVIAN YEE and MICHAEL M. GRYNBAUM
March 6, 2013
The New York Times

Come Tuesday, when Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s ban on the sale of large sugary drinks goes into effect after months of public debate over the measure, its impact on beverages like soda will be clear: no more jumbo colas. But coffee drinkers, and those who pour them, are likely to face a thicket of complications as varied as the lattes, macchiatos and Americanos on a Starbucks menu.

Customers at Dunkin’ Donuts and McDonald’s can expect to add their own sugar packets and flavor swirls to large and larger coffees.

At other cafes, some will be given one lump, or perhaps two, in their coffees; those seeking more will need to visit the condiment stand.

Starbucks regulars will at first see no change at all, then may find a raft of them waiting one morning. Some large drinks will be affected, others not at all.

“The whole point of buying coffee is just you get it and go,” said Yolanda Rivera, 30, who was drinking a medium iced (and sugared) coffee in a Dunkin’ Donuts near Times Square on Wednesday. “It’s just going to be annoying.”

The city’s new regulations regarding coffee hinge on delicate calculations about milk, calorie and sugar ratios. As with other sugary drinks, coffee cups 16 ounces or smaller are unaffected. But unlike sodas, which will max out at 16 ounces, cups of coffee larger than 16 ounces can still be served as long as the barista adds no more than three to five packets of sugar. (The limit depends on the size of the drink.)

And once the drink is handed over, customers can add as much sugar as they want.

None of those rules apply to drinks that are more than 50 percent milk, like lattes, because the city considers milk a valuable source of nutrition. And there is no limit to the number of Splenda, Equal and Sweet ’n Low packets a barista can pour in.

The city says the rules are simple. “This will have no impact on a large cup of joe, unless more than four packets of sugar are added,” said Samantha Levine, a city spokeswoman. “Real sweet tooths who want even more sugar can pour in as much as they like themselves.”

Given some coffee sellers’ uncertainty over how much sugar and milk is in their drinks, however, compliance can be a tricky game. And different companies appear to be interpreting the added-sugar rules differently, perhaps to circumvent a predictable kink in the morning-coffee routine: As baristas ponder how many packets of sugar are allowed in different cup sizes, the line of frustrated customers will no doubt grow.

While the regulations stipulate that servers can add a limited amount of sugar to coffee, Dunkin’ Donuts and McDonald’s will no longer do so. Customers will have to add the sugar themselves, from a condiment stand in Dunkin’ locations and with packets on the side at McDonald’s.

“Our focus is on customer service and making sure that our crew know exactly what to do to comply with the ban,” said Cheryll Forsatz, a McDonald’s spokeswoman.

A Dunkin’ spokeswoman, Michelle King, said the company had developed its policy after consulting with the city’s Board of Health.

Dunkin’ has tried to reduce the inevitable confusion by handing out small fliers at cash registers. Titled “New N.Y.C. Regulations — What They Mean for You,” the fliers explain that while lattes and small coffees are protected, drinks like hot chocolate, frozen Coolattas and larger coffees will be downsized or desugared. Workers at the chain have also been trained to answer questions about the ban and gently inform regulars that their favorite drinks will be unavailable by Tuesday.

Shock and dismay are not uncommon reactions, said Jared Feldman, a Bedford-Stuyvesant resident who has witnessed many similar exchanges over the past week at his local Dunkin’. “They go through all the stages of grief,” Mr. Feldman said.

Then there is Starbucks, which interprets the rules as saying baristas can add sugar to large coffee drinks as long as the customer asks first; the city says the amount must be limited. Rather than spending money now on reprinting menus and retraining baristas, the company is waiting to make changes while officials gauge the response from city inspectors — and the outcome of a pending lawsuit against the rules filed by the beverage industry.

“A majority of our drinks fall outside of the ban, and we’re not expecting to make any immediate changes next week,” said Linda Mills, a spokeswoman for Starbucks, which has more than 300 locations throughout the city.

A typical grande beverage at Starbucks is 16 ounces; venti sizes and above will be affected. Many popular espresso drinks at Starbucks, like caramel macchiatos and pumpkin spice lattes, would be exempt from the restrictions, because they often contain a lot of milk. But Starbucks is unsure how to measure the milk content of the popular Frappuccinos, which are about 60 percent ice.

Independent coffee shops have not been immune. At Café Angelique in the West Village, Robert McConkey, the manager, said he had to eliminate most large sizes of cold drinks from the menu. Large flavored ice coffees posed a special problem because of the sugar in the flavored syrup. The cafe decided to continue selling them, but only with the syrup on the side.

“The way the law is worded, there’s plenty of ways for us to get around a lot of them,” he said. “It just seems so ridiculous.”