YAKIMA, Wash. -- At North Town Coffeehouse, about 10 percent of the shop's business is generated by selling a variety of specialty sodas including Northwest favorite Thomas Kemper and Wisconsin-based Sprecher.

Owner Dave Tompkins is discovering that his soda is also getting more attention for what most of the sodas don't have -- high-fructose corn syrup.

The ingredient, also known as HFCS, is made from corn that goes through an enzymatic process to become a liquid sweetener. The product emerged in the late 1970s as a cheaper alternative to cane sugar and eventually ended up in a variety of items including soda, ketchup and cereals.

The sweetener has gotten criticism for its possible link to the country's obesity problem.

Most of the sodas Tompkins sell are sweetened with cane sugar, making it easy to meet customers' demand for more products without HFCS.

"With all the articles (against HFCS) surfacing, there's definitely a movement toward cane sugar," he said.

Tompkins is himself a fan of cane sugar sodas.

"I personally think they taste better," he said. "It's a little bit smoother."

Over the past year, HFCS has become the new nutritional villain as critics have been more vocal about what they believe are the health hazards of the ingredient.

They argue that the body does not digest HFCS the same way as other sugars and it limits the body's hormones' ability to signal fullness, resulting in overeating and weight gain.

The Corn Refiners Association is fighting back with a marketing campaign. The campaign includes television commercials, a Web site and a set of scientific studies that declare there are no nutritional differences between HFCS and cane sugar.

Many fall in the middle, arguing that consuming too much of either ingredient is bad for you.

But cane sugar is clearly winning with consumers. Consumer outrage over HFCS has led restaurants and food manufacturers such as Pizza Hut and Pepsi to produce products sweetened with sugar rather than HFCS.

That's good news for Danny Ginsburg, owner of Real Soda in Real Bottles, a California distributor and producer of soda drinks.

He's been a long-time advocate of sodas made with cane sugar. Ginsburg notes that while HFCS' gummy quality works with items such as cream or pineapple sodas, it tends to overpower other flavors, such as root beer and grape.

So he's not surprised that more of Real Soda's customers, including North Town Coffeehouse, demand cane sugar sodas.

"The reality is, if you can choose to have the same product sweetened with HFCS or cane sugar, I think you're going to find a lot of people will prefer the cane sugar," he said.

Tompkins believes there is one barrier for cane sugar sodas -- price. His soda products cost more than $3 apiece, while a similarly sized bottle of Coke or Pepsi may cost a little more than a dollar.

But he also believes there's a niche opportunity for businesses willing to offer products made with cane sugar.

"It's like the wine industry -- there are growing niches," he said. "We're in an area of specialization where people become connoisseurs of products."

* Speaking of nutrition, if you head over to King County, you'll notice some extra numbers at local restaurants. As part of a law that went into effect in January, 1,500 chain restaurants are now required to post nutritional information of all its items.

Advocates of the law believe posting the information will help residents make better food choices when they eat out.

Can't wait until next week for a new column? Check out Shop Talk, a blog that provides your daily dose of retail and restaurant trends.

Until then, happy shopping and happy eating.

* Mai Hoang's Reporter's Notebook is published each Monday in the Business section. She can be reached at 509-577-7685 or mhoang@yakimaherald.com.