May 4th, 2006
Wolfgang Puck Self-Heating Latte is Being Withdrawn from Shelves
By Alice Hill
RealTechNews
Poor Wolfgang Puck - he got excited by technology but went with a 1.0 release. The self-heating latte can was certainly an idea looking for a buyer, but enough curious coffee drinkers got more than they bargained for when the cans began exploding, melting or not heating up the coffee enough to create the “fresh-brewed” latte the technology promised. And this week they were officially recalled.
Launched to great fanfare in the spring of 2005, the lattes quickly made it to the shelves of thousands of stores, including large, end of aisle displays in Kroger and Albertson’s supermarkets and Sam’s Club warehouse stores. But in less than a year, the team that produced the innovative product has fallen apart.
Consumer complaints have ranged from the product’s failure to reach an appropriately hot temperature to it actually overheating, spurting product from the can, leaking out of the can, or the calcium oxide heating mechanism adulterating the coffee itself, according to Groux.
“We have reports of chunks of white product, which we believe to be calcium oxide, that was found in the product, which means the heating element most likely leaked,” Groux said. “We have complaints of can meltdowns, curdled product, sour product, leaking cans.” Last month, a Las Vegas woman named Dee Harris claimed she had been badly burned by one of the drinks when she activated it in her hotel room. She claims it overheated and then blew up, sending her to the hospital. “I went to pick it up, but it was too hot,” Harris said. “I pulled my hand off of it, it exploded. It was just sitting on the counter, no one had touched it. It just blew all over everything.” Source: BevNet
We Say: I’ll just stick to the corner coffee shop or my trusty home coffee maker and leave the self-heating cans to someone else. “Chunks of white product.” Yuck.
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nick says:
I have done construction work outdoors far away from services and these things were a wonderful addition to my work lunch, a hot beverage in the middle of nowhere was great. I never had a single problem with improper heating/explosion/leaks/taste adulteration.
I’m kinda sad to see them go.
May 4th, 2006 at 3:42 pm
Alice says:
What about a thermos? These seemed so pricey and full of chemicals?
May 4th, 2006 at 3:46 pm
Jack says:
This is kinda strange. I live in Japan, and one of my favorite treats in fall and winter is a nice can of self-heating sake down by the river. Never had a problem with those, although after three or four of them I develop an entirely different set of problems.
May 4th, 2006 at 4:49 pm
Mike says:
Want to see the inside of this container? After enjoying a mocha latte, I dissected the container.
http://www.traffictrak.com/latte/latte.html
May 4th, 2006 at 10:22 pm
ValuedCustomer says:
I’m a drip man myself.
May 5th, 2006 at 6:04 am
Mikey says:
Always thought that the self-heating foods left much to be desired, either in the foods taste, or how well the thing did what it was supposed to do.
In this case, failure was due to the product not being hot enough. My kitchen hot water tap was 25 degrees warmer than this.
(got a new toy, a handheld infrared spot thermometer, point and shoot)
An unopened flat black soda can in direct sunlight actually got hotter. (Dr Pepper, sometimes served hot)(not by anyone I know)
Nice try Wolfgang. We’ll call you.
Next?
May 5th, 2006 at 6:08 am
John says:
After trying fresh ground, and a french press, I can’t drink coffee any other way.
May 5th, 2006 at 7:11 am
Jack says:
Wolfgang Puck is a gourmet chef.
MRE coffee in a can sounds like a bad idea to me. You would have to have areal cofee jones to miss this “Bomb”.
May 5th, 2006 at 9:43 am
wickedawesome says:
I like how “product” is the new word for “unknown substance material.” Chunks of white “product” are in my brown “product,” causing me to spew gastric “product” all over my shirt “product”. This coffee can thing is a real piece of … product!
May 5th, 2006 at 1:30 pm
Alice says:
This product gave me cancer.
May 5th, 2006 at 1:35 pm
wickedawesome says:
I made a mistake about “product”… it’s not “unknown substance material,” but the coffee or soup or whatever was in the container. Guess I should learn how to read.
May 5th, 2006 at 4:52 pm
Mikey says:
all together now,
“That was no product, that was my Mocha Latte”
Speaking of french press, anybody ever heard of Aeropress?
Saw a bit about it, and now can’t find it. Still looking.
And yes, fresh ground is the bomb.
May 6th, 2006 at 10:18 am
JT says:
Trust me, if this concept had been viable with current technology, Starbucks would have produced these self-heating drinks before Wolfgang Puck had ever heard of them. Starbucks passed on this idea several years ago, due to product quality and safety concerns. In my experience, if there can be any money made on a product, Starbucks will certainly give it a shot - and they passed on this one - ‘nuf said! I find it very amusing that Wolfgang seemed to think he could make money on this, but STARBUCKS couldn’t. Silly, silly man! Go back to making pizza for celebrities!!!
May 7th, 2006 at 4:36 am
Mary says:
Personally, I never had a problem with the self heating coffees. They always heated well and I never had one explode. They were great for coffee on the go when a sit down breakfast is not an option. And being in Florida through last years Hurricane season with no power for weeks and hardly a decent meal for about as long, a nice hot coffee made things a little more bearable. I really hate to see them go, and I hope they try again.
July 14th, 2006 at 12:35 pm
Sean Peck says:
I loved these things. Especially that first morning of a camping weekend. They got plenty hot for me and never exploded. I can’t imagine how they would explode.
August 4th, 2006 at 5:03 am
翻译公司 says:
阳光房
May 18th, 2008 at 10:07 pm