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Thursday, February 19, 2009

Starbucks VIA Ready Brew – A Better Cup Of Instant Coffee?

Starbucks VIA Ready Brew (Images courtesy Starbucks)
By Andrew Liszewski

I’m not a coffee drinker, at all, but those who indulge in the brown sludge tell me that instant coffee is the worst way to enjoy a cup of brew. But Starbucks claims to have developed an instant coffee that doesn’t taste like instant coffee. Here’s a blurb of marketing-speak from their VIA Ready Brew website that sheds a bit of light on what exactly makes it different:

Starbucks has found a way to offer a truly great cup of coffee that you can prepare by just adding water. Other instant coffees taste flat and lifeless. Starbucks VIA™ Ready Brew is different – it’s full-bodied and flavorful, just like the Starbucks® coffee you know and love.

It’s made with the highest-quality, ethically sourced 100% arabica beans. The magic is in a proprietary, all-natural process that we spent years perfecting. We microgrind the coffee in a way that preserves all of their essential oils and flavor. No other coffee company takes this step, and it makes all the difference.

At launch the VIA Ready Brew coffees will come in a 3-pack for $2.95 or a 12-pack for $9.95 in your choice of Colombian Medium or Italian Roast Extra-bold flavors. So you’re looking at about a dollar a cup.

[ Starbucks VIA Ready Brew ] VIA [ Uncrate ]

catergory Related Tags: Food, Innovation

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Zeb

Every other instant coffee on the market is freeze-dried to "lock in the flavors".

Starbucks does something new called "micro-grinding" the coffee beans. This hasn't been seen before in the instant coffee world as long as I've been drinking instant coffee. The coffee drinker gets the entire contents of the bean in the drink, and drinks it all. Is that healthy?

In response to this apparently another high quality coffee went instant. www.instantcoffee.mobi and www.mulvadi.mobi are also selling 100% instant kona coffee at roughly 30 cents per cup.

hotcoffee

Healthy Coffee? Is it not a requirement by the USDA/FDA that all imported raw coffee beans to be fumigated with methyl bromide, a known carcinogen, BEFORE arrival in the USA? (Affecting the health of many coffee workers abroad). http://www.epa.gov/ozone/mbr/qa.html
http://www.bestsyndication.com/?q=20080530_roas...
Human exposure to high concentrations of methyl bromide can result in central nervous system and respiratory system failure, as well as specific and severe deleterious actions on the lungs, eyes and skin.
Also the USDA/FDA does / can not check what foreign coffee growers/exporters use for pesticides and herbicides to assure that they bring no diseases into the country.
I really don’t know if Starbucks checks on this procedure or use fumigated imported raw coffee beans. Of course the coffee roasters will not tell you on their packaging that your imported coffee has been treated with that stuff.
USDA/FDA fumigating regulation does not apply to Kona coffee beans grown in Hawaii–USA.
Stick to USA – Hawaiian grown coffee and help the trade deficit disappear (the root of all economic evil).

Extopian

If its anything like Java Juice(tm), it'll be positively vile. Actually... if its anything like regular Starbucks coffee, it'll be vile. :-)

James

That depends on whether you think Starbucks can make a decent cup of coffee in the first place...

IHeartBaconSalt

Starbucks coffee isn't so bad... as long as you add a spoonful of Bacon Salt :)

DENOMOLUS

I LOVE bacon salt. It adds zip to just about anything.

CharlieFlowers

...interesting! Now, if only Tim Horton's would do something like this, we might have something truly great! ;-)

dmadriano

As a Starbucks partner I really wanted to hate it. The big-wigs keep talkting about how we are going to focus on coffee but since then we have essentially ignored it. Except for this seemingly backwards step.

After trying it yesterday I tried and tried to find fault but to no avail. Verdict: actually not bad.

calisbuxboy

i am also a starbucks partner and while it is the best instant coffee i have tasted i still think that it comes nowhere close to the taste of a freshly brewed cup of coffee

Oh! Gizmo

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