I’m torn about Starbucks Via–their new instant coffee. If you walked within 2 blocks of a Starbucks in the last week or so, believe me, you know about it, because the Starbucks baristas nearly tackled you suggesting you take the Via Challenge. The idea: can you tell the difference between their regular coffee and their new, instant coffee. The results are mixed…and not surprisingly so.

Here’s a funny excerpt from one of the MANY blog posts about Via (you’ve got to give Starbucks credit, they know how to aggressively market):

“I stumbled into a Starbucks in Santa Monica at 6:15am yesterday.

Barista: Hi! What can I get started for you!
Me: small coffee please
Barista: Sure! Would you like to try our Starbucks VIA challenge?
Me: what. no thanks. coffee please.
Barista: Oh! Have you already tried the Starbucks VIA challenge?
Me: [blank stare] no? coffee. please.

So to actually answer your question…no, I didn’t try it. I kind of hate Starbucks and wish it wasn’t so damn convenient.”

While I get that instant coffee makes up 40 percent of all coffee sales–it’s supposedly a $700 million biz–and that Starbucks saw the opp to dip their very large toe into this market, it’s going to be interesting to see if it cannibalizes their regular sales at all. Certainly their hope is to simply add to people’s average daily drink “load,” but I wonder if the fact that it tastes decent–but not that good–will leave people with a bad taste in their mouth about SB. It is, after all, instant coffee, which is exactly the anti of what SB is about.

Something tells me they did their homework, but the jury’s still out for this coffee drinker.