First of all, I am sure the baristas are all properly trained and are capable of handling hot beverages while scantily clad.

Secondly, when will it stop being news that men like to look at un or underdressed women, and that they will pay to do so, and that some women will dress skimpily in exchange for (more) money?

This isn't going to change, and it shouldn't change. It's part of human nature, and studies have shown that male monkeys will trade food for the opportunity to look at pictures of hot naked female monkeys.

I think the key is to A) Make sure that any workplace with sexual overtones is safe and regulated like any other business and B) Make sure that women have plenty of work opportunities independent of their sex/sexuality.

There are plenty of men who would happily strip down to their speedos for a bump in tips or salary. It's just the way of things that there's less demand for that. I see no problem with a woman choosing to trade on her looks for cash, as long as its a legitimate choice and a safe and respectful work environment.

...I'm sorry, I had to go there.

If they opened a Banana Hammock cafe as well - with buff, handsome dudes in only boxer briefs, etc. serving as baristas?

Didn't think so.

Imagine all the hot coffee that is going to get spilled by customers who aren't paying attention to their cups.

Do they have Wi-Fi?

In the old days, we had bottomless coffee.

No way!

Actually cared about workers rights and the healthcode? Isn't having mostly bare flesh around boiling fluids and steam a danger? Isn't having your sweat, skin and nipples all over the place some kind of violation of the "I don't want your slish vapors in my coffee" law?

It just isn't safe. Maybe if only the cashiers wore bikinis, and they couldn't even pull drip coffee. But working in a coffee shop with liquids that start at 180F degrees. There's also the steamwands, which make the milk hot and foamy. I've gotten burns on my hands from wands that break mid steaming; the milk boils over. I've gotten second degree burns on my forearms from brewing coffee, when there was still water in the filter basket. Acidic grinds on top of 200F degree water yields only ER trips, not sexiness.

Frankly, whoever thought this up is an idiot. Hope he has good insurance.

Oh, and next time you're at Hooters, ask for a side of wing sauce with the curly fries. It's awesome. Even if it is awkward when the waitress has to sit at your table to take your order.

Well, is there one?

The signature drinks served by those handsome, BVD-clad barista studs would be:

The Banana Soy Smoothie (free tushy pinch of the barrista with 32 oz purchase!)

The Chippen-delicious Mocha Latte (comes with 69 seconds of innuendo involving the barista's application of nonfat whipped cream. Offer not available in Utah)

I meant to say "69 seconds of insinuation".

Gahhhh. Brain fart...sorry.

Just wondering if the same level of (apparent) outrage would be leveled if this were located at the beach. It seems to me that if bikinis are considered acceptable attire while laying out on sand, they should be considered acceptable in a laid back, casual setting like a coffee shop. I've been to plenty of bars at the shore with bikini (or other swimsuit) attired bartenders and servers, male and female.

Now the safety issue with 180 degree liquids is, however, a problem.

...from the Bikini Coffee Company website: "Dress: Instead of traditional dress codes, Bikini Baristas wear beach-appropriate bikini tops and board shorts throughout the year. Busboys, cooks, and dishwashers will wear board shorts and tank tops. All employees will wear non-slip tennis shoes."

The stores are designed to resemble beachside clubs/cafes, sort of like you find at beach resorts. The costumes reflect that. I find it hard to get even a little worked up about anything except the fact that it assumes all table-bussers are boys, and implies that all baristas are girls. Unless the male baristas wear bikini tops, too!

Sorry, but those who are seeking to express their outrage with the argument that 'it just isn't safe' are off the mark. Had you rather wear garments that would soak up these boiling hot liquids and then hold them and all that heat against your skin to deepen the burn, or had you rather have the result of that accident run off of your bare skin quickly and take the heat with it?

Leave the 'it ain't safe' argument alone. Express the source of your true outrage, that being the idea that young pretty things will be using their young pretty parts on display to hawk coffee and get bigger tips.

I don't know if Bikini coffee will be opening in my neck of the woods, but if they do, I will likely drop in for a C-sized cup.

Is Broadsheet with the headline implying that the women who choose to work at this coffee house are sluts or prostitutes?

The Or me? as in Coffee Tea or Me? seems to imply that these women far from simply being eye candy are intended for sexual gratification.

There are coffee houses like that, ususally set up to avoid nudity & liqour laws in various states (cafe leggs in Newark NJ for example) but these are strip clubs, where as this location seems to be more in line with an actual coffee house, in the same way that Hooters is an actual resturant.

Yes the women choose to dress scantily, and yes they flirt with the customers to get better tips and to maintain the image of the restaurant, but there is a big line between being a friendly bariesta, and being a "freindly barista".

Why does Broadsheet feel it is necessary to impune the moral quality of these women? Certainly the men (and likely women too) who frequent such a location receive a cheap thrill from their scantly clad hostess, but no more then these same customers receive from going to the beach on a hot july day or visiting their favorite watering hole where the bartendress wears low rider jeans and tube top for similar reasons.

Yes many people like to look at women, and many women earn money off this fact in a safe legal way.

Perhaps the puritans at Broadsheet feel that such enjoyment is wrong, but I am certain we can agree that it is one's own choice to work in such a place and one's own right to make that choice.

Please leave the moralizing for people looking to take away our rights in society, not those enjoying said rights.