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Black Rifle Coffee really leans into patriotic, all-American vibes for its brand. However, a new class-action lawsuit alleges that this America-forward approach misleads customers into believing the coffee is grown in the United States.
The complaint, filed on Nov. 3 in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California, alleges that Black Rifle’s bags, which feature an American flag and the words “America’s Coffee” on the front, count as “unqualified ‘Made in USA’ advertisements.” Such statements, the suit continues, “cause the reasonable consumer to believe that Defendants sell coffee that is sourced and produced in the United States.”
As the folks fighting against coffee tariffs know, the U.S. grows very little coffee. The suit alleges that the company’s America-forward branding contravenes California’s “Made in USA” statute, which prohibits use of the term for products that are “substantially made, manufactured, or produced outside of the United States.”
Daily Coffee News reports that in April, a jury awarded $2.36 million to the plaintiffs in a case against Bigelow Tea. The suit found that the company misled customers by labeling its products “Manufactured in the USA 100%,” despite sourcing coffee from abroad.
Read the full story on the Made in the USA coffee lawsuit from Daily Coffee News here.
