Halfbakery: Café Pedestrian™

Neil Shotman's second day on the job went far smoother than his first. He'd managed to cinch up the straps on the backpack tank to reduce sloshing and found the nozzle length adjustment clamp so the dispenser now felt like an extension of his left hand. Gone were the noisy, spilling freshman efforts of his first day. Were it not for his caffeine induced grin and generally friendly mien he might be a scary sight with his large back pack and wide pants. But by now, the city dwellers were accustomed to Neil and the small army of other Café Pedestrian™ entrepreneurs just like him that appear every morning all over town. They can be found at the exits of train stations major buss terminals and the main doors of large office buildings before the earliest shifts arrive.

By week two, Neil's regular customers had stopped asking about his predecessor on this corner and instead resumed the random, pick- up-where-you-left-off style conversations Neil was quickly becoming known for. When pressed about the business as a business, Neil would say, "The suit is the business." And right he may be. The "suit" is made up of: A backpack mounted insulated coffee tank An insulated dispensing tube and valve (to user's non-dominant hand) An old-fashioned belt mounted change dispensing machine A personalized hat featuring a jaunty coffee cup and saucer A pair of spring loaded cup sleeves (pant-leg mounted, ironically) A tank top warming oven full of pastries. A chest mounted serving/condiment table.

No flavored coffees here, only serious coffee drinkers need apply. Tea is, however, available since the tank pack does have a "clear" section that carries and produces the very hot water Neil uses to simultaneously heat and "temper" the coffee. This tempering is needed since the coffee is brewed quite strong and then held at a warm but not hot temperature to preserve the aromatic volatiles for the drinker. This approach keeps the coffee from becoming bitter in transit and creates a side business in tea as well.

To complete the package there is a warming oven atop the tank that dispenses fresh baked croissants. In keeping with the simplicity of the business there are only croissants. Strangely it dispenses them one half pastry at a time... Even if Neil sells a whole croissant he must reach in twice and extract two halves. While Neil and the regulars have become used to it, new customers sometimes balk at the convention. But tasty as they are, Neil has had to place a per customer limit on the confections: two and a half...