They’re on every corner making resistance futile. Even when prices go up, people still show up for their regular fix.

I’m not talking about drug dealers, but your local espresso purveyors. Slate reports on the Starbucks price hike announcement and explains why addicts keep coming back for more.

But Starbucks may be luckier than the cigarette makers. It is in the happy position of marketing coffee, a substance that, unlike gasoline, is physically addictive, and that, unlike tobacco, governments don’t want to regulate. [slate]

The article includes a link to charts compiled by the Center for Science in the Public Interest comparing the caffeine quantities from several products [cspi] that’s interesting. As they said on G.I. Joe, “now you know, and knowing is half the battle.”

Of course, we prefer a cappuccino from Espresso Vivace (or Local Cafe, with one of their remarkable scones) for our morning walk to work security blanket and definitely aren’t lame^* enough to be drinking pricey Java Chip Frappucinos.

[* Lame, the pronouncement of the Oracle of Starbucks]