A few weeks back I attended the London Bloggers meetup, sponsored by Starbucks coffee. They were there to promote their new instant coffee with the “great marketing name” of “VIA Ready Brew“…. Not sure who came up with that one.

So, Starbucks Instant Coffee, sounds like a bad idea from the start right? That’s at least what I thought but I have to admit that this is probably the best instant coffee I’ve ever had. I mean, it’s no espresso or anything but it’s definitely better than any of the other instant coffee I’ve ever tasted. Traditionally instant coffee seems to be highly chemical stuff that looks more like dried up turd than actual ground coffee. Starbucks’ instant coffee on the other hand actually looks like a really fine blend of espresso coffee, and actually also smells like real coffee.

In the end the taste is still nothing compared to a good espresso machine, but admittedly most Starbucks customers (and this is even more valid for Brits) like to add loads of stuff like milk, sugar and vanilla to their coffee anyway. I’d say Starbucks VIA Ready Brew is a really good way to get some semi-decent coffee of you’re on the road, or on holiday, and it definitely beats most other instant coffees any day. Though, if you want some real coffee, make your way to a real Starbuck (expecting loads of slack from anti Starbucks pundits) or to any other decent coffee place in London.

Starbucks VIA Ready Brewis available in Starbucks stores all across the world and goes for about $10 per 12 sachets.