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Who says that trends always have to come from the coasts? Oh, that's right: basically everyone who lives on either coast. Well, an Iowa business called A Snack in the Face is proclaiming itself "the nation's first caffeine bakery," and based on this country's unquenchable love of carb-loaded sweets and soul-rending commutes, the idea of cramming an alertness aid into brownies and cupcakes seems like a model that's likely to catch on.
The Des Moines Register writes that "caffeinated brownies, cookies, truffles and more shouldn't be surprising, just another cultural touchstone for our work-harder, produce-more, sleep-less society."
Meanwhile, speaking of caffeine, noted java merchant Starbucks has caught some flak for pushing the big C a little too hard—new simplified drive-through menu boards are streamlined to the point of not listing their small (sorry, "tall") drinks.
USA Today quotes brand consultant Robert Passikoff, who doesn't buy the Starbucks "doin' it for the customer" mantra. "'It's disingenuous to suggest that how they simplified the menu was to benefit the customer,' he says. 'I don't know why you'd suddenly drop your cheaper item off the menu.'"
Image source: CHOW.com
I was hoping to hear about pot coffee..!
Where's the pot in these pot brownies? Where are you, Alice B. Toklas?
Oh...and to think I've been spelling it "Des Moines" all these years.
Re: Starbucks. Their "small" is not a "tall", it's a "short" and to my knowledge it's never been listed on the menu boards.
Hey, y'all it's Des Moines, fer Gawd's sake! Puhleeze!
The article is poorly structured and waits until it's about 2/3 of the way in to explain that these folks are not just selling desserts made with coffee and the like (which would indeed be non-surprising), but making desserts using pure caffeine powder. I'm sure that's been done before too, but it's unusual at least.
Well, Des Moines Register, they're not surprising. Um, coffee-flavored desserts, using real coffee, have been around for a long time, from tiramisu & affogato to, yes, coffee-flavored brownies. Not clear on the newsworthiness of this.