Gourmet coffee at the office is a lingering afterglow of the “dot boom”. Rumors of expensive cappucino machines still float around. But not all high-tech companies provide free caffeine. Intel’s employees have to buy their own coffee, and over at WorldCom they voted to eliminate free coffee and $25 of free long distance calls per month instead of increasing their insurance payment contributions. Starbucks, Peet’s and FilterFresh have become the main players in supplying gourmet coffee to offices. Starbucks and Peet’s sign up partners to manage the delivery, while FilterFresh continues to buy up smaller vendors to increase its market share. Some people say coffee at work just isn’t the same as at the cafe, though. There’s a lack of consistency and quality control, not to mention the vastly different atmosphere.