PROVIDENCE -- If you're a GTECH GTECH employee coming downtown to work this morning for the first time, you're probably frazzled.

Maybe you were a tad late.

In a rush to get out the door, you left your travel mug on the kitchen counter next to your lunch.

Traffic is a bear; the signs confusing; the line into the parking garage long.

You're not in West Greenwich anymore.

Don't panic.

Even if you haven't figured out where the power cord to your laptop is, you're just minutes away from satisfying your coffee craving.

There are at least 30 places where you can get coffee and a sinker within walking distance of your new front door.

We know. We counted.

Last Wednesday at 9 a.m., The Providence Journal sent 10 people to find out what it costs and how long it takes to get that morning cup of joe.

They weren't in danger of tripping over any early birds on the sidewalk outside Dunkin' Donuts at that hour, but newsroom people aren't exactly the Type A sort.

For most, asking them to do something before 10 a.m. is like asking Terrell Owens to show up for training camp on time.

Christie Wenhold, who manages the Honey Dew in Kennedy Plaza, pointed out that the coffee starts pouring early.

"There is usually a line from when we open at six to eight-thirty or nine," she said. "It gets pretty crowded, with people rushing in and out to get on the buses."

In our unscientific sampling we found the waits short, but the prices varied.

And even discounting for Starbucks' pretensions about names, "small" is a relative thing, varying as much as 3 ounces among the cups we bought.

At 14 ounces, filled to the brim, you'll get more coffee at Starbucks and Tazza, an independent on Westminster Street.

You'll get the least at Dunkin' Donuts or Tim Hortons, which both poured 11 ounces.

But how much the cups can hold is different from what gets poured into them. That depends on who's doing the pouring and how daring a customer is about carrying a steaming coffee two or three blocks.

How much you'll pay for that coffee also varies.

Tim Hortons charged the least, at $1.29. You'll pay the most for a Starbucks at the Citi Perk kiosk in The Westin Providence -- $1.89. You'll pay less for a "tall" Starbucks -- $1.63 -- if you walk down to its shop in the Providence Biltmore.

The average for the cups we bought was $1.52.

For GTECH employees, Citi Perk has an advantage over some other places: it's on the walk between the Convention Center garage and the company's new headquarters.

And that walk is mostly inside. Not a small matter when the wind and snow whip through Capital Center.

Even Guido Petrosinelli, the Scituate man who owns the four Dunkin' Donuts shops downtown, admits that's a concern for his business.

"Convenience is huge," he said. "People coming into work won't drive by Dorrance [Street] or Westminster [Street].

"Dunkin' Donuts has to have a presence on that side of town."

Dunkin' does have a spot a short walk from the corner of Francis Street and Memorial Boulevard, where GTECH's workers are settling in today. It's in the Providence Place mall. The "gotta-have-a-Dunkin' " crowd is sure to find its way to the mall's third floor, where the coffee chain runs a kiosk near the food court.

They'll have to walk past cafes in Borders and Nordstrom to get there.

"There are some people who will seek out Dunkin' Donuts because they grew up with it," Petrosinelli said.

Other people will buy a coffee wherever they can find it. Where GTECH people won't find takeout coffee is in their building -- at least for now. No one has leased the kiosk planned for the ground floor.

But John Elkhay, owner of four city restaurants, said he expects to land that lease.

In the meantime, he has opened Coco, an outdoor kiosk attached to Citron, his restaurant across Memorial Boulevard from GTECH. He's hoping to develop a lively outdoor business in the courtyard along the walkway to Waterplace Park.

"The whole waterfront is made for people to walk around and enjoy," he said.

By next spring, he'll have heaters like the ones seen at ski lodges to entice patrons in cool weather.

People will come. Americans are fairly well addicted to coffee.

They drink 350 million cups a day, according to Filterfresh Coffee Service Inc., of Westwood, Mass., which sells single-serving coffeemakers.

If GTECH doesn't spring for professional coffee makers such as Filterfresh's, there's plenty of coffee to be had downtown.

There are two Starbucks (a third is on the way), four Caf la France shops (the outlet in the train station is a walk in the park), an Au Bon Pain, a Honey Dew Donuts and a Tim Hortons.

For the independent-minded, there's the Coffee King on Fountain Street (The Journal's de facto cafeteria), Tazza on Westminster Street, Caf Choklad on North Main, Caf 101 on Pine and a dozen indies in between.

You can get a takeout coffee with a slice of politics on the side at the State House coffee shop.

You can sip it while watching a crime drama unfold at the District Court.

You can even get it with a little sweet talk, as one of our editors discovered.

When he paid the clerk at Dunkin' Donuts last week, she said, "Thanks, honey."