By Chris Scott Barr

Do you grow tired of drinking coffee?  I don’t mean the flavor, or even the hassle one has to go through to procure a good cup of Joe. No, I mean are you tired of having to lift a cup to your lips and drink every few minutes in order to get your caffeine boost? I’ll be the first to admit, it takes a lot of effort. You have to drop everything you’re doing with one of your hands for a few seconds, not to mention those cups can get pretty heavy. What you need is a better caffeine delivery method.

While an IV drip would seem like the most direct method, it’s not the most practical. Instead, might I suggest Le Whif Coffee? That’s right, someone has made a coffee inhaler. The tube contains powdered coffee with caffeine equivalent to a light espresso. Each “stick” has about 9 hits (all of which are needed to get the full caffeine effect of a single cup of espresso) depending on how hard you inhale. Sticks will run you $3 each, or you can buy a three-pack for $8. Now if only they had disguised these as asthma inhalers, you might have avoided looking like an idiot every time you took a hit.

[ Le Whif ] VIA [ BoingBoing ]

By Chris Scott Barr

For the coffee drinkers out there, how many cups does it take you to get through a typical workday? For many, loading up on coffee is about the equivalent of putting gas in a car. The longer you want to stay productive, the more you need to ingest. Now what if you actually tried to fuel your car with the stuff? Apparently you can, but you’ll need more than a few cups to get you through the day.

A team at the BBC1 science show Bang Goes The Theory took an old ‘88 Volkswagen Scirocco and modified it to run off of coffee grounds. Now before you get too excited about running a car off of a cup of Joe, you’ll have to consider the fact that it’ll take the equivalent of 56 espressos just to travel a single mile. To further break that down, it’ll cost roughly 50 times more than simply using gas. Needless to say, this is one of those projects that was done “because they could” and not because it was practical. The team is also using it to try and raise awareness on using alternative fuels.

[ DailyMail ] VIA [ Dvice ]

If you’re too tired in the morning to operate such an advanced piece of modern technology as a coffee maker, but the only thing that will wake you up is a hot cup of joe, then I’ve got 2 1/2 words for you, Speak n’ Brew. From Primula Products the 10 cup coffee maker is apparently the world’s first to recognize voice commands that can be used to set the clock or program the brew time. And since focusing on dials, buttons or an LCD display can be quite a chore after you’ve rolled out of bed, the Speak n’ Brew will even talk back to you, letting you know when the coffee’s ready or confirming your audible commands. $79.99 from Primula’s website.

[ Primula Speak n' Brew ] VIA [ The Green Head ]

By Chris Scott Barr

I’m a guy that likes to grab a robe and wear it when I first get up, or sometimes when I get out of the shower. They’re comfortable, and allow you to walk around pants-free without displaying your underwear to everyone. My robe is rather dull looking, as it’s just plain gray with a belt. If you’re looking for something a little more geeky to walk around in first thing in the morning, look no further than this Jedi Dressing Gown.

This awesome homage to the defenders of the Star Wars universe will not make you one with the Force. It will however keep you nice and comfortable in its cotton velour fabrics. The robe is designed to look like something your average Jedi might wear until he’s had his his morning cup of Joe. The hood and Jedi insignia definitely complete the look. It is currently available for pre-order, and will ship on November 27th for $96.

[ Find-Me-A-Gift ] VIA [ GearFuse ]

The WMF1 is another one of those compact coffee machines that uses “coffee pads” to brew a single cup at a time, pretty much anywhere you’re willing to take it. But it manages to stand out from the crowd by oozing with style. While the machine itself is made of plastic, the included mug is made of porcelain and from what I can tell, given the shape of the cutout, that’s the only mug you’ll be able to use it with.

The water reservoir only holds enough H2O for a single cup of joe, which is a good thing since it means you’ll have to use fresh water each time, and the machine is only heating as much water as it needs to. Now I’m not entirely sure of the pricing details, but the WMF1 comes in a variety of different color schemes including the Kiwi model pictured above.

[ WMF1 Coffee Pad Machine ] VIA [ The Red Ferret Journal ]

By Chris Scott Barr

I’m not much for the game of golf, though I do rather enjoy a good round of putt-putt. Well when you’re stuck in the office and wanting to practice your short-game, here’s a sneaky way to do it. Use your coffee mug. Sure, your regular cup isn’t going to make a great target, so that’s why you should use the Golfers Mug.

When you’re done with your morning cup of Joe, just lay the mug on its side (preferably after you’ve rinsed it out) and you’ve got yourself a target. Now all you have to do is figure out where to hide you putter. You can pick one of these up for around $13.

[ Red5 ] VIA [ CrunchGear ]

By Chris Scott Barr

Remember Pixy Stix? Man, just one of the jumbo stix was enough to keep me bouncing off the walls for a while. As an adult, sugar just doesn’t have quite the same kick that it used to. Luckily candy has evolved and brought us Nixie Tubes.

Nixie Tubes very much resemble the classic Pixie Stix, with one minor upgrade. Each tube has 100mg of caffeine, or about 20% more than your standard cup of Joe. A pack of five tubes is going to run you around $9, which is a bit pricey for candy. If you’re in a pinch and need a quick (and tasty) pick-me-up, then one of these might just do the trick.

[ ThinkGeek ] VIA [ CrunchGear ]