Wolfgang Puck's self-heating coffee recalled

by Nick Vagnoni, Posted Apr 28th 2006 @ 1:25PM

Wolfgang Puck Self-Heating Latte cans are currently being pulled from shelves after reports of the cans leaking chemicals into the coffee or exploding, according to a recent story from beverage industry publication BevNET. The BevNET story recounts a blame game between licensees, the can's manufacturers, distributors and Wolfgang Puck Worldwide, Inc. The latter apparently requested that the cans be pulled after repeated customer complaints and supposed scrutiny from the FDA. The cans were originally released last spring. Some complaints included reports of a white substance, perhaps the calcium oxide used in the can's heating system, floating in the coffee. A Las Vegas woman also claims she was badly burned by a malfunctioning can that exploded. The cans supposedly heat their contents to 140 degrees. According to BevNET, the company that designed the cans marketed them with the slogan "It does what?"

[Photo: BevNET]

Filed Under: Magazines, Stores & Shopping, Drink Recipes, New Products
Tags: america, bevnet, can, chemical, coffee, explode, latte, leak, malfunction, recall, self heating, stores-and-shopping, wolfgang puck, WolfgangPuck

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Reader comments (Page 1 of 1)

3-05-2008 @12:47PM Thomas said... Dear Friends,

i am writing from Middle east region well i did heared about the Self Heating Coffee, if anyone can tell me about an existing brand, so that i can try to purchase on the net. All efforts are appriciatable.

Cheers N take care
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2-28-2010 @12:13PM waste420 said... heatermeals.com sells a similar product, only thing is it serves 18 cups per pack, and when u eat the pack u heat all 18 cups worth of cofee...check it out for yourself

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4-28-2006 @2:22PM Miriam said... HE HATES THESE CANS!!
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4-28-2006 @5:11PM David Thompson, SLS 2007 said... Whoops. Now the game is to see which plaintiffs' lawyer is going to win the race to the courthouse.
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4-28-2006 @8:04PM Krista said... I've been keeping one of these coffees on a shelf downstairs along with other dried goodies (trail mix, Peeps, etc.) just in case there's a disaster or armageddon or some such trapped in the apt. trauma. And now it looks like the can might be more traumatic than whatever mystery disaster I'd be trying to ride out.
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5-06-2006 @6:05PM Mike said... This container is quite elaborate. I know. I did an autopy on one. Pictures here:

http://www.traffictrak.com/latte/latte.html
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11-09-2006 @4:46PM Deanna Rustand said... What store do I find these cans at? I want to try them.
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11-15-2006 @7:49AM Alex said... This container is quite elaborate. I know.
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1-13-2007 @6:01PM Crystal said... **Whaaaahhhh** I love these cans!!! I didn't realize they were recalled. There was never anything on our local news. But I did hear they were selling these out and $1.99/4pack instead of $2.49 each. So I sent my husband on a coffee hunt, where he was quite successful and brought home 10 4 packs. I had even taken these on a plane in my carry on, and was never questioned by security. I can certainly see the danger in this. But I sure miss this item, it was so convenient!
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4-29-2007 @9:32AM coldestgravy said... That's terrible. I knew something must be wrong when last year Kroger was "dumping" the product at extremely low prices. Too bad I didn't buy more then, because I love the product. My single complaint, if you can call it that, would be that once the coffee/can is fully heated and you "pop the top", most often the coffee would splash upwards and onto my hand, making it a bit messy. But hell, for the ease and the fact that I enjoyed the taste of the coffee, it was worth it.

Just last night, I'm snooping through my mom's pantry and sure enough; I find 3 of 4 cans left in the 4-pk carry case. I drank one (it was great all over again) on my drive home and decided to keep the other two at her place for another time. But now, after doing some websearch on the product and finding info about the recall, it's hard to choose between drinking the other 2 or hanging on to them as a collectible.

Damn. I hate making these hard decisions so early in the morning. I could really use a good cup of coffee right now. "Pop"! Okay... I still have 1 for the time capsule.

cG

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