Your Starbucks Barista Coffee Grinder Could Be a Killer

It's a quiet Monday morning, and you're in your kitchen, making yourself a cup of fresh ground coffee with your Starbucks Barista coffee grinder. You pop some beans into the hopper and press the grind button. Ah, smell that fresh coffee smell. After a few seconds, you remove the cap...

By John Linn

August 6, 2009

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It's a quiet Monday morning, and you're in your kitchen, making yourself a cup of fresh ground coffee with your Starbucks Barista coffee grinder. You pop some beans into the hopper and press the grind button. Ah, smell that fresh coffee smell. After a few seconds, you remove the cap and move to pour that fragrant powder into your coffee maker. Then it happens: the Barista springs to life, blades churning and hungering like a gaping maw. It lunges for your jugular. You try to duck out of the way, but you're just too slow. Looks like you'll be drinking your coffee out of a tube from now on. In the morgue. (Because you're dead.)

OK, so that scenario will definitely not happen. But Starbucks is recalling its Barista model coffee grinders, which, according to the company, can "fail to turn off or turn on unexpectedly, resulting in injury." Starbucks announced the recall of 530,000 grinders in June following nearly 200 reports of error (none of which were death related). You can see here that the company is still displaying this literature in its stores. The recall also applies to Seattle's Best coffee grinders as well. If you have one, best call 866-276-2950, or visit www.starbucks.com. But act fast, lest the killer strike your happy home too.

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