Too bad Starbucks is in withdrawal mode because here's something out of which they could brew some positive publicity. The Washington Board of Geographic names will be meeting in May to give an initial hearing to a number of place name proposals (including the Salish Sea). Also on the agenda: Cupacoffee Creek. Never heard of it? It doesn't exist. Yet.

In Lewis County, however, there's already a Coffee Creek. But it has an unnamed tributary and local landowner Jim Murphy of Chehalis would like to name it Cupacoffee. One reason: the color. "The stream passes through peat bogs and tannins present color the water," says Murphy. Hmmm. Maybe it should be named Peat's Coffee Creek.

At any rate, Cupacoffee Creek seems in keeping with the Northwest's latte land culture, which is so pervasive that even Puget Sound has measurable levels of caffeine and vanilla. So much so that public radio's John Moe described the body of water as one giant diluted latte. Vente Sound, anyone?