‘F*ckstar orange frappé’ was among the most popular choices
A Hackney-based, heavy metal-themed coffee shop turned to its fans to rename its take on a frappuccino after Starbucks took to its lawyers.
Dark Arts Coffee posted an email to Instagram from the highstreet giant’s legal representatives – with the subject line marked “strictly private and confidential” – which requested the east London roasters remove all references to a frappuccino from its site and social media. Frappuccino is a trademark of Starbucks.
Of the more than 700 suggestions, new names for Dark Arts’ orange-infused cold brew included “Seattle toilet water”, “F*ckstar orange frappé” and “the Donald Trump special.”
The winning entry was the relatively tame but off-piste “Graham”, which attracted more than 330 likes.
Founder Brad Morrison told the Standard: “We put the decision out to our community. We were a little worried it would come back with something we couldn’t use – something too edgy – but people were generally pretty clever with the names. There were a lot of ‘F*** Star****s’ submissions to be fair though...”
Morrison said his personal favourites included “slappuccino (because it slaps)”, “citrus and deceased” and “orange mocha lawsuittino”.
He added that the initial email from Starbucks was unexpected: “I was pretty surprised how quickly they found out about it – we had only had the drink out for a couple of weeks!”
The Graham is blend of orange-infused cold brew coffee with dairy-free chocolate milk and caramel syrup, topped with dairy-free orange whipped cream and chocolate powder.