Copyright © 1998 The Seattle Times CompanyLocal News : Sunday, May 17, 1998Car-pool pals mint a new idea 
No use denying it. Caffeine is still the drug of choice in Latteland. First it was chocolate-covered espresso beans. Now it's peppermints laced with caffeine.
The pepped-up mints, called Penguins, come packaged in a black-and-white tin with a trademark penguin. They hit the Seattle market three weeks ago without fanfare. But, as you might expect, Penguins already have some devotees and a Web site (www.peppermints.com) with a sense of humor. (Q. "Where do you buy Penguins?" A. "In dark alleys.") Creators of Penguins are Brett Canfield and Adam Smith. Canfield explains the origins: "Adam and I used to car-pool to jobs at Wizards of the Coast in Renton. We'd stop for coffee and then I'd have a mint so I wouldn't have coffee breath at work." One day, Canfield and Smith brainstormed: "Why not combine the two?" They spent the next year developing, packaging and marketing the product. Each spherical candy contains about 15 milligrams of caffeine. Take three and you've had the equivalent of a cup of tea or a cola. Canfield and Smith no longer work at Wizards of the Coast. But they're hanging on to their night jobs. Canfield works at the Sorrento Hotel; Smith waits tables at Buca de Beppo. They've placed Penguins at markets on Broadway and in the University District. A tin of mints sells for around $3, about the price of a mocha grande. What next? Canfield warns, "We've got a whole lot of other craaa-zy ideas." Jean Godden's column appears Sunday, Monday, Wednesday and Friday in the Local News section of The Times. Her phone message number is 206-464-8300. Her e-mail address is: jgod-new@seatimes.com
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