PRICES Trying to Apply a Coffee Brake
Coffee, tea or ...? That question was becoming rhetorical last week as Americans protested still another roadblock to their pursuit of happiness: the towering price of coffee. Manhattan's elegant 21 Club offers free tea to discourage diners from ordering coffee; eight blocks away, the Spindletop restaurant serves a free liqueur to coffee abstainers. Stop & Shop, a Northeastern food-store chain, posted signs in many of its 157 supermarkets urging customers to buy beverages other than coffee. In Atlanta, Store Owner Albert Solomon displayed posters saying DON'T BUY COFFEE. YOU CAN FORCE PRICES DOWN. Hartford,...