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Wierd News about Koffee

1996 -- Doughnuts in the News: The Los Angeles International Airport police department opened an investigation over a January incident in which one of its officers allegedly passed a fatal freeway accident scene, at which no officer was yet present, in order to continue on his way to the Dough Boy doughnut shop for a cup of coffee. And in December, the police chief of Quebec City, Quebec, ordered his officers to stay away from doughnut shops during their breaks so as to improve the department's image. Such was the outcry in protest that he rescinded the order the first week in January and apologized to the Dunkin' Donuts chain for using its name generically for "doughnut shop."

1996 -- Recently, the All-Merciful Saviour Russian Orthodox Monastery realized it needed to raise money through an entrepreneurial venture. Since the order is located on Vashon Island near Seattle, it decided to make and market four blends of gourmet coffee, at $20 to $30 a pound, including its signature blend, Abbot's Choice.

1994 -- Milton Ross, 41, who was feuding with co-workers in St. Joseph, Mo., was fired in July after a video camera caught him urinating directly into the office coffee pot before co-workers arrived at work. The videotape trap was set after people noticed that the coffee's taste in recent days had become sour. The next day, in Lanagan, Mo., 200 miles south of St. Joseph, four arrests were made after witnesses reported seeing men urinating into the town's water supply. Residents were advised for more than a week to boil their water.

1997 -- Latest Highway Truck Spills: Several hundred thousand apples near Brighton, Mich., in November; a tractor-trailer full of Hills Bros. ground coffee in downtown Louisville in December; a truck hauling spaghetti sauce and ranch dressing (colliding with a truckful of computers) on I-35 in Austin, Texas, in January; and during a November ice storm, a tractor-trailer full of nuclear weapons near Brownlee, Neb. (an accident kept secret for a month by the federal government).

1992 -- Science News reported in January that male members of a remote Amazonian tribe called the Achuar Jivaro drink an herbal tea each morning that contains as much caffeine as five cups of coffee, but then, in a "macho ritual," vomit most of it up in order to avoid the effects of overdose.

1994 -- In January, the U.S. Postal Service withdrew from circulation most of the rare, misprinted 29-cent stamps honoring cowboy Bill Pickett but picturing his brother Ben. To recover one outstanding stamp, which may be worth $1 million to collectors, the Postal Service offered the owner, Dan Piske of Bend, Ore., 29 cents and a USPS coffee mug. (Piske declined.)

1992 -- Goshen, Ind., police Capt. Joe Brown reported in May that he was considering bringing charges against a 65-year-old man who had poured hot coffee onto the head of a 14-year-old boy who was underneath a footbridge in a local park. The man said he did it because he was sure that the boy was looking up women's dresses as they passed by, and he wanted to prevent the boy from becoming a sexual pervert.

1992 -- The Minneapolis Star-Tribune reported in May that the major ingredient in Maxwell House Cappuccino is the artificial flavor of "instant coffee." A General Foods Corp. spokesperson said taste tests revealed that consumers prefer the taste of instant coffee.

Wierd Coffee Product Names:  
Creap Creamy Powder      -     Japanese Coffee Creamer
I'm Dripper     -     Japanese instant coffee

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Last modified: September 22, 1999