Coffee Nomad

Chemists over at Starbucks Central Command are in the process of rolling out their newest money maker: Starbucks instant coffee. Codename: Via.

Their pricing breakdown for Via will be $2.95 for a pack of three single servings and $9.95 for a pack of 12 single servings. Thus Starbucks is maintaining their standard pricing procedure, which is to charge 10 times more than Folgers or Maxwell House (though now the standard has been applied to instant coffee). My math might be a little rusty, but isn’t this more expensive than brewing coffee using freshly ground coffee beans? Hmm…

According to Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz, Via is not a downgrade in the company’s standards, but rather a adaptation to an increasingly difficult economy. Apparently a lot of people drink instant coffee in the U.K. and Japan.

I predict that Via instant coffee will help Starbucks tap into eleven gajillion dollar truck stop coffee machine market. If Starbucks sold a million $1 dollar cups of instant coffee through these machines every day can you imagine how much that would add up to?

I will be able to try out Starbucks Via starting March 3 when it hits store shelves in Costcos and Targets around the U.S. I will report back as soon as I try it for myself.