Starbucks' Unfortunate Spelling Mistake Named Its New Latte After A Laxative
If you're a coffee-crazed Starbucks customer with a love for steamy lattes, I'm sure you've already indulged in the new flavor the company just released.
If you haven't, I'll fill you in on a secret or two: It's called the Cascara Latte, and it's the first bitter-sweet treat that the company released in 2017.
As glorious as it sounds, the company made a teeny, tiny mistake in naming the beverage.
Why? Because "Cascara" is actually the name of a laxative used to treat constipation.
Of course, you wouldn't know this unless you've studied medicine or used the product for your own personal health reasons (I certainly had no idea).
Heck, based off the company's advertisements for the drink, it didn't know it named its new latte after a laxative, either.
In the product's press release, Erin Marinan, a member of the Starbucks Beverage Research and Development team, said,
"Cascara" is Spanish for "husk," and we are taking the fruit of the coffee cherry to give our latte a subtle, lightly sweet flavor.
In other words, the latte's hint of sweetness was taken from the "cascara" — the husk or shell of the coffee cherry where coffee beans are born. Alas, the fruity flavor.
However, the "cascara" that the company is referring to is missing an accent. It should read "cáscara."
A few educated folks on Twitter noticed the company's apparent mistake and have already called out this mistake.
The secret is out:
Uh-oh. Busted!
Twitter is the spell-checker Starbucks needed.
OOPS.
I definitely wouldn't want to be Starbucks' spellchecker right now.
According to WebMD, Cascara has been named an over-the-counter drug for constipation, gallstones, liver ailments and cancer.
And now, it sounds like Starbucks is trying to feed it to its customers in their coffee (rest assured, it isn't).
We have to give Starbucks a break though, because the thought of a bitter-sweet fruity flavor in our latte sounds heavenly, regardless if it used the correct form of "cáscara" or not.
We still love you, Starbucks — and we know you're not trying to feed us laxatives on the DL.
Citations: Starbucks' First New Latte Of 2017 Is Finally Here (Refinery29), Introducing Starbucks First New Beverage of 2017, the Cascara Latte (Starbucks Newsroom), CASCARA (WebMD)