Questionable photos of a water spout that was labelled, 'Starbucks Only' in a bathroom in Hong Kong appeared online recently, causing many customers and netizens to ask whether the particular branch of the worldwide coffee chain was brewing coffee using 'toilet water'.
The photos were reportedly pictures of the Starbucks branch in Hong Kong's Bank of China Tower. They show a man getting water from a spout in the men's bathroom, in close proximity to a urinal. He then heads back to Starbucks with the container he was filling up.
The aforementioned Starbucks outlet in Hong Kong may have been adhering to this practice since 2011, when it first started doing business.
According to the Agence France-Presse (AFP), spokeswoman of Starbucks, Wendy Pang, did confirm that the Starbucks' Bank of China Tower branch used water from a "dedicated tap" in a restroom.
She stressed that this water was not used directly, but passed through a filtration system before being used to brew coffee for customers. It was also mentioned that this was done in order to meet local as well as World Health Organization (WHO) water standards.
She further commented, "There is no direct water supply to that particular store, that’s why we need to obtain the drinking water from the nearest source in the building."
At present, the branch is no longer using the tap—they use distilled water instead.
[via Huffingtonpost.com, AFP and Apple Daily, images via Hk.apple.nextmedia.com and Starbucks Hong Kong]