Re: Tim Horton's Does it detract from the Canadian chic that Tim Horton's is now in Michigan (at least)? On a slightly more serious note, it seems to me that the upscale coffee shop chain model followed the beginning of the flavorful coffee boom, which began in the Pacific Northwest in the late 1970s. Small and somewhat Bohemian-style coffee shops started using freshly roasted beans to make strong coffee, espresso, etc. As they began to spread, it was only natural that capitalism American style would develop, and from that came small regional-chains (Allann Bros. and many more). Starbucks, et al followed. It strikes me as I remember this that the proliferation of micro-brewery beers started, or restarted, around the same time in the same region. And now many of them have grown and there are mid-sized breweries that brew the recipes for several labels. In a sense, history almost repeats itself on this one. Forgive my rambling, obviously closer to coffee time than beer time. Bruce A. Erickson Le Moyne College __________________________________ Celebrate Yahoo!'s 10th Birthday! Yahoo! Netrospective: 100 Moments of the Web http://birthday.yahoo.com/netrospective/