Coffee Break

Oh, Joe, say it ain’t so! Starbucks announced earlier this week that they’re rolling out their own brand of instant coffee. The new Starbucks product - I hate to even call it coffee - is called Starbucks Via, because y’know, Starbucks would never be so crass as to call something “instant coffee”. You’ll be able to buy Starbucks Via in cafes across the country. Yes, you heard that right - you can buy instant coffee to take home with you at Starbucks starting next month.   The coffee comes in boxes of individual packets - one packet makes one cup - at 3 packs for $2.95 or 12 packets for $9.95.

My favorite investment site, Motley Fool, has quite a lot to say about the idea of Starbucks dumbing down their product line. Alyce Lomax views it as a desperation move - another cost-cutting measure by the coffee giant. I’m actually wondering if it might not be a very shrewd move on Starbucks’ part. Consider the fact that people are showing a strong tendency to drink their coffee at home these days - or make coffee at their desks in the office. There’s still a big market for General Foods International Coffee and other instant coffees, after all. How many people would be willing to shell out $3 to have an instant Starbucks fix in the top drawer of their desk?

Further evidence against this being a “desperation move” for Starbucks are the reports that the company has been developing the instant coffee product for close to 20 years. Why would they be aiming for instant? It makes sense if you step outside a U.S.-centrist mode and think globally. The fact is that there’s a huge international market for instant coffee - one commenter at the Fool puts the value of that market at about $17 billion - and Starbucks has been showing a definite tendency to aim at that larger market. Witness their announcement that they are sourcing Chinese coffee for their Chinese stores - and expanding it to the international market later this year - last month.

A few of the folks commenting in that thread have tasted Starbucks VIA and claim that it’s -good-, and if it really is a good, high quality product, it may just find a home in the instant coffee niche.

Now, I personally don’t care for instant coffee - I have to use double the amount of coffee granules to get a cup strong enough for my tastebuds - but I do have instant coffee in the house. I picked up a little box of Folgers individual packets a while back to do a taste test for an article I was writing. I hadn’t had a cup of instant coffee in over 20 years - with the exception of a couple of cups of International Delight “coffee beverage” which is actually more powdered milk and flavorings than it is coffee. The taste test was enough to remind me that I don’t really care for “soluble coffee” - but my 17 year old son discovered the box yesterday and LOVES it. He’s stashed the last three packets of Folgers crystals to take with him and keep in his desk at school for those days when he forgets his meds - he takes Concerta to help control his ADHD, and caffeine is a decent substitute if he forgets. He usually sugars brewed coffee to hyper-sweetness, but drinks this with just milk so… maybe he’d like Starbucks VIA. I’m not sure if I’m willing to pay a buck a pack for it, though.

How about you? Do you drink instant coffee? Would you try Starbucks instant coffee? If it were available, would you pick up a pack to take with you to places where you can’t brew up a cuppa? Or is Starbucks just …er… watering down their brand?

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