Starbucks introduces the $1 cup of coffee
by Mars Riley
Starbucks celebrated National Coffee Day (how did you celebrate it?) by having a taste test between its new instant coffee, Starbucks VIA Ready Brew, and one of their regular coffees. The goal was to prove that it was impossible to tell the difference between the two. Always eager to see a major brand undercut itself, I took part in the festivities in several local Starbucks. The consensus was you couldn’t tell which coffee won. Everyone was impressed, although they were less impressed with the price ($2.99 for a pack of 3).
And what I think of the name?
Starbucks has a well documented history of being successful at inventing or appropriating foreign-sounding names like Frappuccino and making them part of my vocabulary. Goodness knows how many times I have embarrassed myself by going into a non-Starbucks coffeehouse and ordering a Grande or, worse, a Venti.
But this time was a little different. When I first saw the name VIA on the signage in the store, I didn’t even realize it was a name. I read the name as: “Starbucks via Ready Brew,” not VIA. Judging by the reaction of some of the other people I spoke to in the store, I wasn’t alone. The name made sense: whenever you want the “Starbucks experience” you can get it “via” drinking “ready brew.” “Ready Brew” is a decent attempt at adding value to the product, but c’mon. Instant coffee is instant coffee. Starbucks is under pressure from McDonald’s and Dunkin’ Donuts from the bottom, and you and me from the top. Five bucks for a coffee is a little steep these days. So they are trying to take something long considered the dregs of the coffee world (who do you know who drinks instant coffee?) and turn it into some kind of class act. Good luck!
When I got home I visited the Starbucks website and learned that they had an entirely different meaning behind the name. Via is an Italian word for road. Their idea was to have the name conjure travel and being on the run while always having some Starbucks coffee in your purse or back pocket at the ready (for the rare moments of panic when you’re not within 500 feet of a Starbucks).
The name was also a tribute to the man who ran Starbucks R&D for ten years, Don Valencia (the letters v, i, and a are in his name sequentially). Kept under wraps for years at Starbucks, the project had code names like Stardust, Jaws and Space Needle. Shortly before Valencia died of cancer in 2007, Starbucks CEO Howard Schulz visited Valencia in the hospital and told him the company was finally going to roll out Stardust.
Would have made a great story. And a cooler name.
