VIA

So Hannah and I on our last trip to Starbucks learned that the letters VIA don't stand for anything. Which in my opinion is kind of lame. How did Starbucks get the name for their new amazing product? So thinking about it some I thought via does mean "to go" in Italian or Spanish. So we concluded that Starbucks named their product VIA because you can take it anywhere! I know. So smart.

I hate instant coffee. Ecuador has this awful brand of instant coffee that they serve at all events and restaurants. You'd think that with Colombia so close we'd get some good coffee in that country, but no. Amazing bananas, yes. Drinkable coffee, no.

Then I went to Thailand where the instant coffee is abundant. They have these things called 3n1s combining dried up coffee, milk, and sugar all in one little pouch. Thais love their sweet milky coffee. Quite convenient. All I can say that is good about instant coffee is its convenience. There is nothing that tastes good about instant coffee. And for the record, when you skip a cup or stop drinking it, you get the worst caffeine headaches ever! Way worse than normal caffeine headaches. I blame all those nasty chemicals.

So now Starbucks has come out with their own instant product. And when I first heard about it I was VERY skeptical, what with my lovely instant coffee history. My friend Tim, who works at Starbucks in NY, got VIA before California and had access to some samples. He sent them to me defending the product, convinced I would find it tasty.

So...I have to say. VIA is pretty good. Better than any instant I've had, and I've drank quite a lot. But despite the fact that Starbucks claims its product is all natural, I can still taste the "instant chemical". All instant coffee has that twang, that taste that makes you click your teeth. I can still tell the difference between the brewed and the VIA. Sorry Starbucks, I know you tried. Will I buy VIA to drink just because? No. I still prefer my real coffee beans. But gotta give it A for effort. It is the first instant I've seen that dissolves in milk and cold water.

Final grade: B+