Wednesday, April 12, 1999
Food section
Minty Fresh
If Altoids are "curiously strong" mints, then Penguin Caffeinated Peppermints are seriously strong. How strong? The two twentysomething Seattle guys who make the mints don't wanna tell. "Proprietary," says an otherwise uninhibited Adam Smith, VP (an one of two employees) at ifive brands. He will admit this: Three of the smooth little oval mints have about as much caffeine as a cola beverage. Which is the same as a cup of tea and somewhat less that a cup of coffee.
Mr. Smith and his partner, Brett Canfield, met at college, then got jobs at the same company and carpooled. One morning, Mr. Canfield hadn't had his espresso-it's Seattle, remember?-so he popped and Altoid and eureka! The idea came: Put caffeine in a mint. The tin's neat, too. Altoids-like in shape but with a black-and-white sunburst and a cute little penguin. They're $3 each and hold 75 mints. Penguin mints are starting to appear in stores nationally but not yet in Dallas. For now, you can order them in batches of six tins ($18) or 12 ($25) through the Web site: www.peppermints.com.
-Teresa Gubbins
