If you need a little extra caffeine to get you through this morning, Yorganic juice and yogurt bar in Hanover Square is giving out free 12 oz. cups of Bliss Beans certified organic fair trade coffee from 8 - 11 a.m. this morning. If you work in the Wall Street area, this might be the best news you've heard all week. 3 Hanover Square between Pearl and Beaver Streets.......

The recalculated red hotness of Red Hook came in the form of a Fall food and drink preview dedicated strictly to the neighborhood in last week’s Time Out, written up with an ersatz, vaguely Swedish alphabet meant to evoke IKEA label kookiness. Among the umlaut-heavy listings was one for Stumptown Coffee’s first New York store, which will reportedly open in the former heating and air conditioning place seen here, at 219 Van Brunt Street. Some......

Starting today and running through Labor Day, Starbucks will be helping customers succumbing to afternoon drowsiness with a special discount. After 2 p.m., anyone who produces a receipt from a previous Starbucks purchase that morning can buy any iced grande beverage for $2. (Drinks like their grande iced latte typically costs about $4.) The new discount is part of an aggressive attempt by the faltering coffee giant – which is closing hundreds of locations and......

Starbucks has released the full list [pdf] of 600 “underperforming” locations nationwide that will close between now and mid-2009; 10 of them are in New York City, with the majority clustered in midtown, two in Queens, one on Staten Island and one in Bay Ridge. Which means we’re left with a scant 225 Starbucks citywide – so get out and support your local neighborhood Starbucks! The closings will affect some 12,000 employees – er, partners......

Starbucks has announced it's closing 600 stores in the U.S., bringing the total number down to approximately 9 gazillion, most of them located in Astor Place. Stocks have fallen 24% so far this year, and its second quarter was its weakest as a public company. The Seattle-based chain says it will try to relocate employees to other stores, but thousands of layoffs loom. Financial analyst Sharon Zackfia tells the Times, “I don’t think it’s overly......

A big crowd packed Joe on East 13th Street last night for New York’s first inter-cafe barista showdown, as representatives from some of the city’s top coffee houses competed in a Latte Art Throwdown to benefit American Red Cross relief efforts in Burma and China. In fact, so many spectators turned out to watch the competition – which was simulcast on the back wall – that they had to send out for more beer three......

Serendipitously coinciding with Obama’s big primary win, tonight’s Latte Art Throwdown at the 13th Street Joe will surely be crawling elitist liberals who love stuff like delicious espresso and college education. The city’s top coffee houses (Ninth Street Espresso, Gimme Coffee, Cafe Grumpy, Everyman Espresso, and Gorilla Coffee) will be sending baristas to the event, which is called "Rosettas for Relief" and benefit the American Red Cross' efforts in Myanmar and China....

Some funny new details emerged yesterday in the trial of the retired cop infamous for aggressively silencing noisy passengers on the Long Island Railroad. John Clifford stood accused of assaulting a woman whose hand he twice slapped in March 2007 after she tried to intervene in his scolding of cell-phone talker Nicholas Bender. And if Jerry Seinfeld is looking for material for his new TV series, he’s got all the fodder he needs in yesterday's......

Long Island Rail Road etiquette enforcer John Clifford – famous for his crusade against rude behavior during his morning commute – was in court yesterday to face charges stemming from a train altercation in March 2007. The retired cop-turned-lawyer stands accused of, among other things, slapping a woman who dared intervene while Clifford berated another passenger for talking loudly on his cell phone. Clifford’s been arrested or ticketed eight times for similar incidents, such as......

Starbucks unveiled its new everyday coffee brew--the Pike Place Roast--in stores today. The Seattle-based chain's press release explains the new brew has "Starbucks signature bold flavor with a smoother finish balanced by soft acidity and subtle, rich flavors of cocoa and toasted nuts." Additionally, the stores indicate when the coffee was roasted and will "brew smaller batches with a hold time of no more than 30 minutes." A store in Chicago actually ran out......

In January, a roving monster with some real nasty lice terrorized Manhattan yuppies in Cloverfield. A few weeks later, the $11,000 Clover coffee machine began showing up in the press to devour yuppie wallets. El Beit in Williamsburg owns one of 6 such machines in the five boroughs. It charges “Market Price” – anywhere from $2.75 to $3.50 – for a choice of brew made with beans distributed through North Carolina’s Counter Culture. From the......

Whether it was a PR stunt or a legit "teach-in" on espresso, Starbucks shut down for three full hours last night to train baristas --leaving the 5:30 to 8:30pm coffee crowd out in the cold. Today they are back, with a new take on "the customer is always right" policy posted about their stores; it reads: "Your drink should be perfect, every time. If not, let us know and we'll make it right." Reportedly they'll......

There's trouble brewin' at everyones favorite chain coffee shop. WCBS is reporting that there has been a shooting at a midtown Starbucks. The BNN confirms with a location: 120 W 56th Street, and reports a possible robbery as well. The NYPD are currently still looking for the suspect. UPDATE: The shooting took place outside of the Starbucks and WNBC is reporting that the NYPD, based on preliminary information, believes the incident was part of a......

Image: Bernie Hou. Sorry Reverend Billy, it’s only for three hours. For those of you who haven’t heard, all 7,100 “standalone” Starbucks in the United States will close for 180 tense, irritable minutes, starting at 5:30pm on February 26th. (That’s a Tuesday.) Now don’t let panic take over – this has nothing to do with Starbucks' "sinister Phase Two" of operations; it’s planned to facilitate the retraining of their 135,000-strong army. Come 8:30pm, this newly......

Okay, it's freezing. Not just freezing -- bone chillingly bitter. We've been at our desk for hours now and still can't manage to fight off the chill from our morning commute. This kind of weather makes us crave warm, cozy comfort food -- hopefully at least one of these options is close enough to you for a quick dash out, or even better, to deliver to you. Soup: Get a warm and cozy homemade soup......

Wouldn’t be caught dead with a “latte” from Starbucks or a Coolata from Dunkin Donuts? Well, you haven’t reached the summit of coffee snobbery until you’ve had the self-proclaimed “ultimate” cup of coffee, expertly prepared by computers and pneumatic tubes at the Lower East Side’s Roasting Plant. Since opening last spring, business has been hopping at the sleek Orchard Street café; coffee aficionados are drawn back as much for the fresh coffee as for......

Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: an industrial accident on 10th Ave. near 30th St. in Manhattan, a man down an elevator shaft at 50 West 15th St. in Manhattan, and a homicide at Neck Parkway and 42nd Ave. in Queens. Not only have investigators found hard drives scrubbed clean of potentially damaging e-mail messages related to Troopergate, the Spitzer administration is refusing to even identify the names of the Internet Service Providers that were......

You will never find Chef Bobby Flay too far away from an ancho chili pepper. Back in 1991, he opened Mesa Grill in New York, his shrine to the Southwestern flavors for which he is now famous around the world. In 1992, Mesa Grill won New York Magazine's Best New Restaurant, and the following year, Flay was given the James Beard Rising Star Chef award. Since then, he has created a mini-empire of six restaurants,......

It’s a common gripe that pretty much everything that gives New York its flavor is being steadily eviscerated and replaced with corporate chains and exclusive amenities for the affluent, but this week has been a doozy. In the past two days, for starters, we’ve seen closures announced for the following joints:The classic, blue collar Donuts Coffee Shop on Fifth Avenue in Park Slope. The beloved unassuming LES coffee & bar oasis that was Lotus Lounge.......

It's official. Today the Landmarks Preservation Commission voted to designate DUMBO a historic district, pending City Council approval. The area, composed of 91 industrial buildings dated mostly from 1880 to 1920, is bound by John Street to the north, York Street to the south, Main Street to the west and Bridge Street to the east. It is the city's 90th historic district. The district contains the Manhattan Bridge, and its support piers and anchorage......

Urban Rustic, the new Brooklyn grocery store whose shelves are almost exclusively stocked with food from within a 100-mile radius, opens tomorrow. Located on North 12th Street across from McCarren Park, the grocery is the brainchild of Aaron Woolf, a partner in the nearby faux-alpine Lodge restaurant/bar/general store. Woolf is also one of the producers of the indie documentary King Corn, which followed the misadventures of two neophyte corn farmers and their harrowing journey......

The New York Press is getting their Gawker Stalker on with their latest cover story about stalking Claire Danes...and how you, yes you, can also follow her home! All you need is the internet, a lot of free time and an obsession in which to fuel your fanboy/girl fire. The payoff? Well, for the author of the article, Becca Tucker, it was a cover story complete with creepy photo, headline and font. Just close your......

What do you get for the person who has everything this season? Central Park! The green grass may be covered in white and the autumn leaves have come and gone, but the Conservancy wants you to know it's "lovely in the winter!" So don't go hibernating just yet. The press release mentions something about giving the gift of a coffee set to take along with you on a stroll, but what really caught our attention......

EVENT: Into anime? It's your lucky weekend, the New York Anime Festival is in town! There will be previews, screenings and panels galore. Check out their website for more details. All Weekend // Jacob Javits Convention Center [655 W 34th St] // $30 day pass, $55 weekend pass SHOP: FIT and the Design Mavens come together for a 3 day shopstravaganza. Tons of designers we're not cool enough to have ever heard of will be......

Senator Barack Obama might be back in Iowa on the campaign trail, but New Yorkers are still buzzing over his coffee - and bacon and eggs and toast - klatsch with Mayor Bloomberg on Friday morning. The meeting was supposedly caught Senator Hillary Clinton off guard - and not just because it was two blocks away from her midtown offices. Bloomberg's press secretary Stu Loeser said Bloomberg wanted to talk national policy with Obama,......

Preempt some of the holiday lunacy by scooping up some of these food-oriented gift items. We found five gifts that are perfect for someone who loves to cook or who maybe just appreciates food a bit more than your average eater. All these items are under $50, and all available online. Olive Wood Mortar and Pestle from Sur La Table. Great for making guacamole, pesto or grinding up spices. Also looks lovely on your kitchen......

We're sure that one Long Island father thought to himself, "If I can't use my for a urine test, I'll use my child's urine..." when he decided to take his 9-year-old out of school. The problem is, Suffolk police officers happened to be passing by the deli where the 36-year-old father and son were and became suspicious when they saw "the child fixing his pants and watched as the father poured something from a coffee......

There are plenty of Starbucks in Manhattan (over 170), but if you head over to Brooklyn -- you'll see the streets are mostly void of discarded Venti cups and hardly anyone has heard Josh Groban's new Christmas album. But things are about to change, chain-haters beware.A recent Brooklyn Real Estate Roundtable meeting revealed that retail giants such as Starbucks, Duane Reade pharmacies and Chase Bank are planning to double and in some cases triple their......

If you've been paying for Wifi at coffee shops between 42nd Street and Central Park South and between 8th and 6th Avenues, you can start saving up for more grande mocha lattes. CBS will be creating a "CBS Mobile Zone" with free wifi in midtown. In turn, CBS will lead users to an ad-supported homepage. CenterNetworks says that Citi and Salesgenie.com have already signed up. CBS, which owns CBS Outdoor, will wire billbards, MTA displays......

New York seems to have a love/hate relationship with the branded beanery Starbucks (their seasonal Peppermint Mochas sure are tasty, but their sterile generic storefronts keep the siren's call muted). While the local mom and pop collects our $3/day coffee allowance, there are plenty lining up at the corner 'Bucks for their daily buzz. Alas, there is now a book to appease the haters and the adoring herds of the establishment. Taylor Clark has gone......