It's a triple espresso shot in your crime Blotter/coffee Trimethyl latte -- the SFPD were called in this afternoon to the Starbucks on Van Ness and Bush after an employee found a homemade pipe bomb in the bathroom. The police cleared out everyone from the neighboring Ellis Brooks auto center, the Wayo sushi bar, and the apartments upstairs.

The bomb squad took about 20-30 minutes to defuse the device, which was described as "a portion of a flashlight and a fuse." No one was injured, and the folks evacuated across the street said they didn't hear anything when the bomb was detonated. Traffic was rerouted for about an hour.

Your Trimethyldioxypurist swears it wasn't him! He's got an alibi!

Update: Man, it is not a good day for corporate coffee on Van Ness. Watch out, newly-opened Opera Plaza Peet's by Clean Well-Lighted! A car crashed into a Tully's on Van Ness and Pine today too. SFPD says it doesn't appear to be related to the Starbucks thing.

Picture of the Van Ness/Bush Starbucks from the site Starbucks Everywhere