Starbucks Via: What’s the secret?
Hey, Starbucks lovers–and critics too! Have you taken the Starbucks Via Taste Challenge? The drip vs. instant coffee faceoff began this morning in Starbucks (SBUX) stores across North America.
If you want to know the science (it involves micro-grinding) behind Starbucks’ new instant, check out this story today by my Fortune tech-writer colleague Michael Copeland. He talked with Andrew Linnemann, Starbucks’ director of green coffee quality and operations, whose mission these past two years has been to make Via worthy of Starbucks branding.
The mission is incomplete, as I see it: I did my own taste tests earlier this week and gave Via lukewarm reviews. So, what do you think of Via?
P.S. To read a barista’s advice to Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz, click here.
there’s a great article on the new starbucks product over at the naming & branding blog ‘on the button.’ have a look: http://onthebutton.wordpress.com/2009/10/06/starbucks-via/
I had the opportunity to take the taste test in the comfy zone of my living room. I liked it! The taste was great and it required no wait. It was instant coffee gratification. I still prefer Happy Hippee from Mukilteo Coffee Roasters.
You probably had a barista that made it incorrecyly to only have received lukewarm reviews. What other instant in the WORLD taste better, if you have any let’s do a taste challenge with them.
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Patricia Sellers has written some of Fortune's most talked-about cover stories, including "Can Meg Whitman Save California?", Melinda Gates ("The $100 Billion Woman"), "MySpace Cowboys," Martha Stewart ("I cannot be destroyed"), Ted Turner ("Gone with the Wind") and Oprah Winfrey ("Oprah Inc."). And she has broken ground with insightful pieces on career management issues such as ego ("Get Over Yourself!"), and "Charisma: Do You Need It? Can You Get It?" Pattie chairs the annual Fortune Most Powerful Women Summit, the preeminent gathering of women leaders in business, philanthropy, government, academia, and the arts. And she has helped oversee Fortune's "Most Powerful Women in Business" cover package since its launch in 1998. She started at Fortune in 1984, covering the big consumer brand companies.
I am concerned about Starbuck’s strong-arm tactics and the scripted “conversations” used on customers to sell the new product. They show a rather sad view of the customer (as well as other people). I strongly recommend the following blog’s post: http://deligentia.wordpress.com/2009/11/13/starbucks/