Doughnuts & Doughnuts: Who Needs Coffee?

[3113]

Wake up and smell the caffeine doughnut

Robert Bohannon of Durham has found a way to bake caffeine into this staple of the American diet.

Coffee is so yesterday. Caffeine fiends now can get their buzz from soft drinks, yogurt and even ice cream. So, how about a doughnut? No problem, says Robert Bohannon, a Durham entrepreneur.

Bohannon, a molecular virologist, has figured out a way to bake with caffeine powder so that a pastry has the jolt without the bitter taste.

The trick involves a vegetable oil-based coating that doesn't dissolve until it reaches the digestive tract, Bohannon says. Further details are secret until the U.S. Patent Office publishes the invention.

Bohannon's baked goods would contain 75 milligrams to 100 milligrams of caffeine. A 12-ounce caffeinated soft drink, by comparison, contains about 50 milligrams. An 8-ounce cup of coffee about 100 milligrams and a NoDoz pill about 200 milligrams.

The idea for Bohannon's Buzzed Baked Goods (our name, not his) came to him six years ago. He woke up and wanted his java jolt but not the java. Being a scientist -- he usually concerns himself with the genetic makeup of viruses, not coffee beans -- he started tinkering.

Bohannon's solution, however pleasing to the palate it may be, does not please everyone.

"We don't need caffeine, but it's become the most widely used drug in the world," said Jim Lane, a professor of medical psychology at Duke University.

The side effects of caffeine are somewhat unclear, Lane said, but some studies have shown it may be a risk factor for heart disease. And not all foods that contain hefty doses of caffeine are labeled, Lane said. That raises concerns that children could be exposed unknowingly.

Lane calls caffeinated doughnuts "an unnecessary novelty at best."

But Bohannon, who drinks four or five cups of coffee a day, defends his invention. "People like to have their caffeine buzz," he says.

The entrepreneur runs Environostics, a three-person Durham company that makes ultra-sensitive tests to detect pregnancy, infectious diseases and illegal drugs. He also owns Sips Coffee & Tea in Durham. But the shop doesn't sell his caffeinated pastries. Instead he hopes to interest Starbucks, Krispy Kreme or Dunkin' Donuts, and has written each. The letters went out a week ago and now he's waiting.

"We'll see how it trickles through their system," he said.

And here's one on a guy who's selling these doughnuts:

Caffeine Doughnut' Cuts Out Need For Coffee

Portland, OR (WFN) -- It's an understatement to say the doughnuts are a little different at Voodoo Doughnut in Portland, Oregon.

The late night haunt caters to an after-hours crowd that's willing to wrap their gums around doughnuts shaped like voodoo dolls or flavored with Tang.

Store co-owner Kenneth Pogson says he even used to sell doughnuts glazed with Robitussin, Ny-Quil and Pepto-Bismol, before the FDA cracked down on him.

One of the oddest doughnuts currently on sale is a pastry filled with 100 mg of caffeine -- equal to about a cup-and-a-half of coffee. Pogson says the combo is for people who don't have time to drink coffee with their doughnuts.

You might think a place that serves caffeine-filled doughnuts would be a haven for cops, but Pogson says police avoid Voodoo Doughnuts like the plague.

He says the officers he's spoken with are "totally afraid" of being stereotyped as chubby slobs who swill coffee and stuff their faces with fatty pastries.

I find myself more interested in the doughnuts shaped like voodoo dolls actually....

 

[cloudy]

I find myself more interested in the doughnuts shaped like voodoo dolls actually....

You and me, both.

We're sick individuals.

 

[mjl2010]

Perfect

I think this is great! I love coffee and I love donuts. I should own stock in dunkin donuts. You can keep the krispy kremes. Give me a good old greasy buttermilk and a large black please. Or better still, two buttermilks and an extra large black.

Damn. Now I need to go get donuts!

MJL

 

[cloudy]

I think this is great! I love coffee and I love donuts. I should own stock in dunkin donuts. You can keep the krispy kremes. Give me a good old greasy buttermilk and a large black please. Or better still, two buttermilks and an extra large black.

Damn. Now I need to go get donuts!

MJL

Better still, a double-double from Timmy's and a maple donut.

damn, I'm hungry.

 

[Guest]

No, no, no!

Can't do doughnuts.

Flaky apple turnovers with gooey frosting are bad, bad, bad for me!

Instead, can't they make coffee that tastes like you are also having a doughnut?

No fat, no sugar, just - pretend?

Please?

 

[mjl2010]

No, no, no!

Can't do doughnuts.

Flaky apple turnovers with gooey frosting are bad, bad, bad for me!

Instead, can't they make coffee that tastes like you are also having a doughnut?

No fat, no sugar, just - pretend?

Please?

Oh no please don't suggest that. We have too many flavors already. I hate flavored coffee.

Besides, you'd miss out on dunking the donut in the coffee

MJL

 

[Jenny_Jackson]

Hey... what do you expect. Portland has more coffee houses than anyplace else in the world. We are all caffiene junkies in this town

 

[impressive]

No, no, no!

Can't do doughnuts.

Flaky apple turnovers with gooey frosting are bad, bad, bad for me!

Instead, can't they make coffee that tastes like you are also having a doughnut?

No fat, no sugar, just - pretend?

Please?

Yes!

 

[Selena_Kitt]

The trick involves a vegetable oil-based coating that doesn't dissolve until it reaches the digestive tract, Bohannon says

um...

ew...

hey, Imp turned around... I like the view!

 

[drksideofthemoon]

um...

ew...

hey, Imp turned around... I like the view!

...and I was going to make doughnuts tomorrow morning...I dunno now...