Yanis Coffee Zone

From the Chicago Tribune: "The Paris-based manufacturers of an inhalable coffee powder said the confection became available Thursday at stores in New York and Massachusetts. Le Whif coffee, created by David Edwards, a Harvard University professor of biomedical engineering, and marketed by his Paris-based company LaboGroup, is being offered for sale at Dylan's Candy Bar in New York and Cardullo's Gourmet Shoppe in Cambridge, Mass.

LaboGroup, part of experimental art and design center Le Laboratoire, said it hopes to expand the product to other states during the next month. A Dylan's Candy Bar worker said Le Whif packages will cost $3 each. "Le Whif is a new delicious approach to eating by breathing," a Le Whif product brochure reads. "With Le Whif, we inhale food, like chocolate, into our mouths and taste it, without chewing, an experience of flavor without the calories."

As idle workers fill coffee-shop tables -- nursing a single cup, if that, and surfing the Web for hours -- and as shop owners struggle to stay in business, a decade-old love affair between coffee shops and laptop-wielding customers is fading. In some places, customers just get cold looks, but in a growing number of small coffee shops, firm restrictions on laptop use have been imposed and electric outlets have been locked.

WSJ.com

Another customer ran up to the assailant and threw a cup of coffee in his face. The patron knocked the guy to the ground and held him there until police arrived. Sun-Times News Group

There's been some discussion of requiring a permit to carry concealed Rocket Fuel.

A Blacksburg (Virginia) man is facing charges after he crashed his car through the window of a Starbucks in Blacksburg on Friday evening, police said.

Mohammad Adeel, 19, was attempting to park a 1997 Honda Accord about 5:25 p.m. when he drove through one of the business' large windows, according to a release from Blacksburg police.

Two people inside the Starbucks, located at 880 University City Blvd., were treated for minor injuries at the scene, authorities said.

Adeel is scheduled to face a charge in court April 29 of failure to maintain proper control.

The Starbucks incurred about $4,000 in damages, the release said. Damages to the car were estimated at $1,000. [Roanoke Times]

"My 18 years of experience enable me to distinguish between thousands of flavours," he says.

Costa Coffee sells 108 million cups of coffee worldwide each year. The insurance policy was taken out with Lloyds of London.

Well, you know we're gonna have to sit T down in front of the camera and do our own version of this story.

On Monday, Grand View Topless Coffee Shop opened for business in a little town in central Maine. The signs outside say: "Over 18 only," and "No cameras, no touching, cash only."

On Tuesday, two men sipped coffee while three topless waitresses and a bare-chest waiter stood nearby. Not all residents of the little town are happy but local officials say the coffee shop met the letter of the law.

The resourceful kids at lifehacker have come up with another way to roast your own coffee beans:

"If you're unfamiliar with heat guns, they are a blowdryer-like device that can output hot air anywhere from 200F-1400F in a concentrated stream. Commonly used for tasks like stripping paint and thawing pipes, you can usually find basic heat guns for around $20-30 at your local home improvement store. Starting with green beans and slowly applying heat from the heat gun, you can roast your beans with a high degree of control."

Maybe. But you should be prepared to drink a tanker-full of nasty coffee before you get it right. Something we did long ago at the Coffee Zone. Unplug that heat gun before you burn your beans.

On Tuesday, Starbucks unveiled instant coffee bearing the Starbucks brand. Packages of Via Ready Brew will appear in Starbucks shops in Seattle and Chicago on March 3, the same day that Starbucks will begin offering breakfast value meals in stores nationwide.

“We are going to reinvent the company, reinvent the category,” Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz told a group of Wall Street analysts, journalists and retailers on Tuesday at a tasting of the new product in New York. “This is not your mother’s instant coffee.”

When asked about the bold marketing move, Taisir Yanis, proprietor of Yanis Coffee Zone in Jefferson City, Missouri snarked, "You want instant coffee? Boom! Here's your coffee. Next!" [Thanks to Greg Perry]

AP: "Starbucks Corp. plans to slash nearly 7,000 more jobs during a new round of store closures and other cuts, the company said as it reported Wednesday that its profit dropped by more than two-thirds in its fiscal first quarter.

The gourmet coffee chain plans to close 300 underperforming stores around the world _ including 200 in the U.S. _ by the end of the fiscal year in addition to the 600 U.S. stores it began closing this summer."

We're pleased to report no layoffs here at the Coffee Zone. In fact, Taisir Yanis has been named Full-time Employee of the Month for the 64th month in a row. Congratulations, Taisir!